FRIDAY-18TH JANUARY 2008 - DECAYING SCHOOL BUILDING ENDANGERS STUDENTS, TEACHERS

Decaying school building endangers students, teachers

MENGGATAL:
The Headmaster of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (SJK) Good Shepherd in Menggatal has voiced fears that the old buildings in the school are posing a grave hazard to its 378 students and teachers if no drastic action is taken to rectify the problem.
Fong Li Ming said the wooden buildings, especially the floors and pillars, have decayed and need to be repaired urgently.
"We hope the Government, especially the Education Minister, will find a way to solve this problem before any untoward incident happens to the students and teachers," he said, adding that the school was built in 1961, and is one of the oldest in Kota Kinabalu.
Fong revealed the problem during a briefing for Inanam assemblyman Johnny Goh during the latter's visit to the school yesterday.Johnny appealed to the relevant government agencies and department take drastic measures to overcome the safety problem faced by the students and teachers "I hope the buildings will be repaired as soon as possible to prevent any unfortunate incident," Johnny said.
Meanwhile,Chairman of the School Management Board, Simon Lee said the proposal to build a new building has not been approved yet even though the applications were made since more than 20 years ago in 1984.
"We have already applied for a site in Menggatal for the building but until now, we haven't received any response from the Government," he said.
Simon said that more applications have been made to the Land and Survey Department, JKR and Mineral Department, and he hoped the site will be approved soon.