COMFORTABLE CLASSROOMS FOR RANAU SCHOOL PUPILS READY IN A WEEK

Comfortable classrooms for Ranau school pupils ready in a week

RANAU April 11, 2012: Pupils of Sekolah Kebangsaan Togudon Lama will have comfortable learning environment after a project to build new classrooms for them are completed within a week.

SK Togudon Lama headmaster Johnny Ghani said the school, located some 48 kilometres from the town here, was set up as a Native Voluntary School in 1953.

“One of the classrooms, which was built in 1964, is still in use till today as we have very limited resources to set up new ones,” he said, adding that the project was well received by the parents as well as the teachers and pupils.

SK Togudon Lama currently has 69 preschoolers and primary school pupils, and a 13-member teaching staff.

It is one of the 25 schools in Sabah to benefit from the Rural Transformation Programme, under the government’s National Transformation Policy.

The programme was mooted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in February this year to improve rural schools in Sabah and Sarawak.

Works Minister Datuk Seri Shaziman Abu Mansor yesterday personally visited the school to inspect the project.

Satisfied with the development, Shaziman added that they are encouraging contractors to adopt the Industrialised Building System (IBS) which he described as: “Time and cost efficient. This would save us the time and transporting building materials, which could be costly and time consuming.”

He said conventional construction project would take at least six to eight months to complete but IBS allows work to be completed within weeks.

“The IBS technology is also believed to be the solution to other problems such as termites attack. It is so easy that even the headmaster said that he could even do it himself,” he said.

Shaziman also urged the contractors to impart the IBS knowledge to the local contractors in the state, adding that the government is encouraging at least 70 per cent of the technology should be used in future development projects.

“This will also reduce our dependence on foreign workers and ensure the area is clean,” said Shaziman.

The projects in Sabah include the construction of 55 classrooms and 29 units of teachers’ quarters, costing some RM9.3million, and are expected to be completed by early June this year.

A similar project is also carried out in Sarawak involving nine schools.

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Govt allocated RM9.4 mln to build IBS-based schools in Sabah

“Most of the schools in Sabah are in urgent need of new buildings because many of them are in dilapidated conditions, thus raising safety concerns,”

Works Minister Datuk Seri Shaziman Abu Mansor