Road accessibility problem may be cause of teachers rejecting postings in rural areas

KOTA KINABALU - Road accessibility problem could be the reason why teachers are refusing to teach at schools in rural areas, thus causing students to fall behind on education.

Sabah state assemblyman Dr Aliakbar Gulasan said the issue on road accessibility has been around for a long time.

"We often raise this issue, including bringing it up to the State Legislative Assembly, especially on the road accessibility for teachers to reach the schools they are teaching at.

“The effects of the situation are that firstly, teachers may reject offers to the hard-to-reach places and secondly if teachers are not there, the students, villagers and the local community will fall behind in terms of education,” he said.

Aliakbar said this to reporters after attending a School Visit Programme in conjunction with the Teacher's Day celebration at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Bandaraya, here, on Wednesday.

Earlier, he was asked to comment on the steps that needed to be taken to facilitate teachers serving in rural areas to have road accessibility to reach their respective schools.

He suggested for a special committee be set up to resolve the issue.

“I can see that even though the government has made efforts to tackle the issue, it never seemed to have been resolved.

“It was sad to see some teachers having to ride motorcycles in the mud and this should not be happening after 60 years of our independence.

“So I suggest that the government allocate an additional fund to ensure that teachers could have smooth access to schools,” he said.