One-third of Malaysia's schools do not have water and electricity, a minister said according to a report today, pledging to fix the problem by 2010.

Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail told state news agency Bernama that all 9,806 schools in the country will have access to basic utilities by the end of a four-year education development plan.

Razali said 70 percent of schools in the country already have access to water and electricity.

gemencheh tamil school 230107 school2 "The other 30 percent of the schools were mostly located in rural areas but we are confident that the problem will be solved by 2010," he said.

Malaysia has implemented a series of five-year development plans with the aim of reaching developed nation status by 2020.

In the last national blueprint announced in 2006, which focused on closing the nation's widening wealth gap, the government said RM1.15 billion would be spent to upgrade schools.

While children at public schools in the capital Kuala Lumpur enjoy computer facilities and sports grounds, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that hundreds of rural schools lack the most basic facilities.

-AFP