JOHOR BARU: Education Ministry is mulling a special allowance to teachers working in critical areas, particularly big cities including Johor Baru, Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak.
Its deputy minister, Teo Nie Ching, said the proposal was among the mechanism that was being looked into by the ministry to address the shortage of teachers in certain areas due to the high cost of living.
“We are considering to provide the allowance to these teachers.
“We found that the shortage of teachers was mainly because they were not interested to come (and work in cities) here due to the high cost of living,” she said when commenting on the issue, of which many teachers applied to be transferred back to their hometown, causing shortage in schools located in urban areas.
Teo said the allowance proposal was drawn up by a committee set up to address the issue.
“However, it (allowance) is still in proposal stage and an announcement would be made later when it is finalised,” she said.
On the relocation of teachers in Sabah and Sarawak, she said the ministry’s policy had set 90 per cent of the teachers there to be states’ natives.
“We have achieved 87 per cent, but are not in any rush (to achieve the 90 per cent target) as we want to ensure the quality of teachers.
“We do not make announcement of vacancies there. Instead, the teachers are welcome to apply (to work in Sabah and Sarawak),” she said.
Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik had said the high cost of living was among the factors that had caused teachers to shy away from working in cities.
Teo had earlier launched the opening ceremony of the third National Research and Education Innovation at the Teachers’ Education Institute conference at Dewan Seri Temenggong Ibrahim, Temenggong Ibrahim Teachers’ Training Institute (IPGKTI) here today.
The annual programme serves as a knowledge-sharing platform for new discoveries in teaching and learning (pengajaran dan pembelajaran or P&P) process.
A total of 400 participants attended the conference.