The Education Ministry is in the process of reviewing the definition of dilapidated schools nationwide, said its deputy minister, Teo Nie Ching.

She said the effort has to be made to enable all agencies under it to use the same definition.

“It has to be done so that we can use the same criteria to determine which particular project needs to be given priority.

“There were several criteria that were taken into account including the location and also the provision of dormitories and teachers quarters.

“These are indeed the criteria to be considered,” she said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

She was replying to a supplementary question from Ma'mun Sulaiman (Warisan-Kalabakan) who wanted to know the level of comfort of teachers and students that needed to be considered in the government's plan to build and repair dilapidated schools.

Ma'mun in his original question wanted to know about the best way to replace the wooden and dilapidated schools that still existed in the Kalabakan parliamentary constituency.

Responding to this, Teo, who is also Kulai MP, said that 120 schools in Sabah were identified for the improvement of dilapidated school buildings involving executing agencies such as the Public Works Department (JKR) and the Education Ministry.

“A total of 37 schools have been handed over to JKR Sabah to execute the school improvement project while another 83 schools will be executed by the ministry.

“For Kalabakan parliamentary constituency, the improvement of SK Sungai Hj Matahir is underway and is expected to be completed on Sept 30, which involved six classrooms and one science room,” she said.