Johor, Selangor among several Malaysian states facing teacher shortage
13 September, 2018
Malaysia's education ministry has set up a special committee to study ways to tackle the shortage of teachers in several states including Johor and Selangor.
Deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching said on Wednesday (Sep 12) that among the factors leading to the shortage of teachers in these four states was the high cost of living and the location of the schools in interior areas.
“The problem of a lack of teachers is not only in urban areas like Johor and Selangor but also in interior areas like Sabah and Sarawak, and the ministry has taken steps to resolve it.
“It is still under control but we need to find a quick solution, and one of the things we are considering is increasing the allowance so as to attract more teachers to the affected areas,”she said.
Teo was speaking to reporters after launching the National Research and Educational Innovation Conference 2018 at the Teachers’ Training Institute, Temenggong Ibrahim Campus.
She said the critical areas now were Johor Bahru and Shah Alam as teachers were not keen on teaching there because of the high cost of living.
“We are also discussing increasing the cost-of-living allowance for teachers here because these states are not their choice due to the high cost of living.
“However, this proposal is still being studied because we need to identify the strategic areas which really need this and we will make an announcement after the committee report is completed,” Teo said.
She added that in the case of Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry had implemented the 90:10 Policy with 90 per cent being local teachers from the states and 10 per cent from the Peninsula.
“So far, we have reached 87 per cent of local teachers in Sabah and Sarawak,” she said.
TAG(s):