The Education Ministry will continue to focus on repairing old schools and building new ones in Sarawak, says secretary-general Madinah Mohamad.

She said the focus was in line with the Tenth Malaysia Plan (RMK-10) which was formulated with several new schools to be built and dilapidated schools upgraded.

"This year alone, 47 projects were implemented of which 22 new projects were in the first rolling plan while the remainder were joint projects in the fourth rolling plan under the RMK-10.

"We are indeed, focusing on upgrading as well as replacing old, dilapidated school buildings in Sarawak," she told reporters following Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's visit to SK Sungai Ladong in Kuching today.

Meanwhile, Madinah said a total of six relatively old schools in Sarawak, including SK Sungai Ladong, would be transformed using industrial building system (IBS) technology.

She said the prime minister had directed that the schools be built using IBS technology and be completed within five weeks.

She added that for SK Sg Ladong, the new IBS constructed building would include six classrooms, two teachers' quarters and toilets at a cost of RM2 million.

The school would also be equipped with a RM165,000 science laboratory, said Madinah.

- Bernama