Kota Kinabalu: Likas Assemblyman Tham Yun Fook urged the Ministry of Education to include senior Sabah education officials on its teacher recruitment selection panel, following the Ministry’s announcement that it will hire 20,000 new teachers nationwide.
Welcoming the large-scale recruitment drive aimed at supporting the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2026-2035, Tham said the Federal Government must prioritise Sabah-born graduates to address the state’s chronic teacher shortage and high transfer-out rates.
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“This announcement must not be viewed merely in terms of numbers,” said Tham.
“In the context of Sabah, which has long faced a shortage of teachers and a high rate of transfers out of the state, priority should be given to recruiting Sabah-born graduates to serve in their home state,” he said.
He called for permanent appointments of senior officers from the Sabah State Education Department and the state Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation to the Federal teacher recruitment selection panel.
He said such representation is Sabah’s right under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which established Sabah as a founding partner of the Federation of Malaysia rather than merely a recipient of federal policies.
“To date, senior officers from Sabah have rarely been involved in the selection committees for admission into the Institute of Teacher Education or in teacher recruitment processes.
“This situation is clearly inconsistent with the spirit of MA63 and reflects a highly centralised approach that is no longer relevant to current realities,” he said.
He said Sabah’s involvement in the selection panel should not be viewed as a privilege but as a rightful entitlement that must be respected.
“If the Ministry is truly committed to the full and substantive implementation of MA63, rather than a symbolic one, structural corrections in the decision-making process can no longer be delayed,” he said.
He also urged Sabah’s Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation to bring the matter directly to the attention of the Ministry at Federal level, describing the Sabah minister as a leader of exceptional courage and conviction.
