THE Ministry of Education is conducting a one-off intake programme for new teachers to fill vacancies in four states, said Education Minister Radzi Jidin.

According to Radzi, the ministry is looking to recruit 18,702 people to address the teacher shortage in schools.

“This is an old problem that has yet to be solved. We are facing a shortage of teachers in Sarawak, Sabah, Selangor and Johor.”

“We are recruiting new teachers so we can lift some of the burden faced by existing teachers at school and therefore, the ministry is launching this one-off intake programme.”

“The advertisement will be published on July 7. Those interested can apply straight away and successful candidates will be placed (in schools) in stages by October,” said Radzi in a media conference today.

Last year, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mah Hang Soon encouraged school-leavers, especially Chinese students who had completed SPM, to take up teaching after the ministry was having a second intake for teacher trainees.

Radzi then said that schools were lacking teachers in English, history, special education, Islamic teaching, information technology and technological design subject.

“Some schools do not have teachers in the subjects mentioned above. There are slots available but we don’t have the qualified teachers.”

“This involves primary school and secondary school teachers. That is why we are recruiting more than 18,000 new teachers to fill the gap,” he added. – June 20, 2021.