KUALA LUMPUR – The Ministry of Education (MOE) is planning to appoint teachers on a contract basis to fill up vacancies for the post, said Education director-general Datuk Pkharuddin Ghazali.
He said that the matter was one of the MOE's priorities, in addition to the recent offer of permanent employment for the Grade DG41 position to 9,552 teachers.
"God willing, we will appoint them on a contract basis... we are improving the method of recruiting teachers for certain (teaching) options,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Pkharuddin was speaking to reporters after attending a discussion session in conjunction with the District Transformation Convention in Alor Setar today.
He assured that the MOE will continue to work with public and private higher learning institutions to address the issue of teacher shortage in the future.
The issue of teacher shortage has been an ongoing problem in the country.
In April this year Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying had said that the ministry was short by about 4.49% or 19,431 teachers.
She attributed this to be due to mandatory retirement, voluntary retirement, promotion, study leave, unpaid leave, resignation, and death.
More teachers are especially needed for the Bahasa Malaysia, English and Islamic studies subjects.
There is also a problem of getting enough qualified teachers for certain states with vast rural populations.
For example, earlier this month Sarawak’s deputy education minister Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee said that there were more than 3,000 vacancies for teachers throughout the state that needed to be filled before the next school year.
The huge number of vacant posts statewide has cropped up due to the imminent retirement of many existing teachers, in addition to those who have been given instructions by the Education Department to transfer to other states.
In Budget 2024, the MOE has been given the biggest allocation among all ministries – RM58.7 billion compared to RM55.2 billion in 2023. – The Vibes, November 5, 2023
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