Sabah Education director Raisin Saidin speaking to reporters after the School Management Appreciation (Mapens) ceremony in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday (Aug 17).
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s top Under-18 school football team may not get a chance to kick a ball at the national level as funds are short.
All hope now lies with the Sabah Education Department to source for the funding for the team from the state’s interior Keningau district to go to the National School Sports Council (MSSM) football tournament in Johor next week.
Its director Raisin Saidin said the department was aware of the matter and was trying its best so that the team would see action at the MSSM tourney.
He said they were checking whether they had any funds left to channel to the team.
"I am confident (the team can go to Johor), we are working on it," he told reporters after attending the Sabah School Management Appreciation (Mapens) ceremony here on Thursday (Aug 17).
"The team, which comprises players from schools in other districts as well such as Tawau, Sandakan and Ranau, needs RM30,000 to fly (and for other needs) to Johor.
"I have also contacted the Education Ministry and its sports and arts curriculum section has communicated positively to me (for extra funding)," he added.
A football coach had posted on social media lamenting that players and coaches for his Keningau Under-18 team were unable to compete in the national MSSM despite winning the state tournament due to lack of funds by the Sabah Education Department.
"What is our fate in Sabah ...Keningau became champions of the Under-18 (state tournament)," said Naimmi Yusof, in a post that went viral on Facebook.
"The cost of the flight, meals and transport (in Johor) is around RM30,000 to RM40,000.
"Pity my coaches and players, they are feeling down. No use becoming the state champion," he said, questioning why the Ministry had not allocated sufficient funds to the state Education Department for the programme.
Naimmi said the Under-15 squad was also in danger of not competing in its category at the national MSSM.
In response, Raisin said this was not a big issue as the Ministry does allocate funding to the department but that it was disbursed in stages.
"Our problem in Sabah is that unlike states in the peninsula, we can only send our team by air whereas they can travel by land, so the cost is lower.
"But we still have time because the tournament is next week. We still have the space to look for the funds to send the team to Johor," he said.
Towards this end, he said the way forward to prevent similar incidents in future was to use the parents, community and private sector in education (PIBKS) approach.
The involvement of these groups can help invigorate the education sector in Sabah besides sourcing for necessary assistance for their activities, Raisin added.
