The Ministry of Education (MoE) projects the recruitment of 16,886 to 20,081 new teachers for the next five years.

Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying said the projection of new teacher recruitment by MoE for the period 2023 to 2027 for primary and secondary schools is based on data on Dec 31 last year.

“The MoE will always check the projection data from time to time, based on needs,” she said in her reply to a question from Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah (PNIndera Mahkota) regarding the projection of teacher recruitment from 2023 to 2027 during a question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

In the meantime, Lim said that from 2021 to January this year, the MoE has implemented the recruitment of 22,327 teachers involving 148 areas of specialisation through the Subject Cluster (KMP) method for the one-off recruitment of teachers as a strategy to ensure that the shortage of teachers can be addressed.

She said the areas of specialisation that were given a ention included English, Bahasa Melayu, Islamic Education, Mathematics and History, with the recruitment process continuing for this year and beyond to fill vacancies at the school.

In her reply to a supplementary question from Saifuddin who wanted to know if the government would continue the KMP method, she said that the ministry would continue the method because there are vacancies that need to be filled with required subject options.

The MoE will always check the projection data from time to time, based on needs.

“We will continue and will also add a few more steps. We are indeed reviewing and making recommendations and we will announce when we have a decision,” she said.

Meanwhile, answering a separate question from Datuk Seri Sh Mohmed Puzi Sh Ali (BN-Pekan) regarding schools in dilapidated condition, Lim said the MoE’s priority is for buildings that needed to be upgraded or to build new replacement buildings as needed.

She said currently, almost 80 per cent of the number of dilapidated schools are in Sabah and Sarawak.

“This is also in response to the call of the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) for the MoE to focus on repairing and upgrading school buildings in dilapidated condition, especially in Sabah and Sarawak,” she said.