Education ministry sees recruitment of up to 20,000 new teachers in 5 years

The education ministry projects the recruitment of 16,886 to 20,081 new teachers for the next five years.

Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying said the projection of new teacher recruitment for the period 2023 to 2027 for the secondary and primary schools was based on data as of Dec 31 last year.

"The education ministry will check the projection data from time to time, based on needs," she said to Saifuddin Abdullah (PN-Indera Mahkota) on the projection of teacher recruitment from 2023 to 2027 during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Lim said that from 2021 to January this year, the ministry had recruited 22,327 teachers in 148 areas of specialisation through the subject cluster (KMP) method for the one-off recruitment of teachers as a strategy to ensure that the shortage of teachers can be addressed.

She said the areas of specialisation given attention included English, Bahasa Melayu, Islamic education, mathematics and history, with the recruitment process continuing for this year and beyond to fill the vacancies at schools.

To a supplementary question from Saifuddin who asked if the government would continue the KMP method, she said the ministry would continue the method as there were vacancies that needed to be filled with required subject options.

"We will continue and also add a few more steps. We are indeed reviewing and making recommendations and we will announce it when we have a decision," she said.

To a separate question from Sh Mohmed Puzi Sh Ali (BN-Pekan) on schools in dilapidated condition, Lim said the ministry's priority was on buildings that need to be upgraded or the construction of new replacement buildings, as needed.

She said almost 80% of dilapidated schools are in Sabah and Sarawak.

"This is also in response to the call of the prime minister (Anwar Ibrahim) for the education ministry to focus on repairing and upgrading school buildings in dilapidated condition, especially in Sabah and Sarawak," she said.