MONDAY- 7 JULY 2008- DOMPOK TO PRESENT PAPER ON MISSION SCHOOLS TO KL

Dompok to present paper on mission schools to KL

PENAMPANG:

The role of mission schools in the country’s education sector should be reviewed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said. Speaking to reporters after officiating the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Organization (Upko) Moyog triennial general meeting here yesterday, Dompok who is also the Party President, said mission schools were losing their ‘identity’. Dompok who is also the Penampang Member of Parliament, had in his speech earlier told the delegates that he was working on a presentation to the Federal Government on mission schools in Malaysia. When asked to elaborate on the issue, Dompok said that he was working on a presentation on the challenges faced by the owners of mission schools. He said that over the years, he had spoken to owners of mission schools to find out their problems and had also brought a delegation to see the Education Minister. “Many of the members of the Cabinet both in the Federal and State Governments, are the products of mission schools. I think the time has come for us to revisit the role of mission schools and that is the tone of the paper that I would like to present,” he said. According to Dompok, from his meeting with the owners of the mission schools, he found out that losing their ‘identity’ is among the things they are unhappy about. “Basically the first thing the mission schools are complaining (is that) they are losing the ethos and the culture in these schools are probably whittling away. Gone are the days when you can recognise the mission schools anymore, for what it was,” he pointed out. “I think everybody understands that perhaps the mission schools will find difficulties in financing themselves if they were purely private like in the past. The very reasons the m inn schools agreed to the Government taking over the administration in as far as provision of teachers is concerned is that the couldn’t afford “But at the same time we cannot forget they have a role to play and the mission schools have provided education my generation of leaders. The best that could happen was to have the mission schools back to like what they were,” he said. When asked what would be the best way to deal with the matter, Dompok suggested mission schools be given support in running the schools interns of teaching staff and finances. “But the subscribe to a Government syllabus which means they are working towards a syllabus that is done by the Government and monitored by the Government. That could be the best that could happen but I don’t know whether the Government would want to go this far. “These are some of the options that could be considered,” he said.