3,150 Contract Teachers To Receive Offer Letters This Month - Wong

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- A total of 3,150 teachers appointed under the Contract of Service (CoS) scheme will receive their offer letters this month to meet the needs of next year’s Year One intake involving two cohorts, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said the number of teacher appointments was approved based on enrolment projections and the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) actual requirements.

“Candidates who have passed the health screening will receive their offer letters this month, with the appointments taking effect on Dec 7,” he said during the question-and-answer session.

He said this in response to a question from Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun (PH-Port Dickson) on the MOE’s preparedness in terms of infrastructure and human resources following the decision to open Year One enrolment to six-year-old children from the 2027 academic year.

On Year One enrolment, Wong said that as of Sept 30, a total of 491,649 pupils had registered for the 2027 school session, with 418,151 applications from the seven-year-old cohort and 73,498 from the six-year-old cohort.

He said the MOE was taking steps to ensure sufficient infrastructure to meet enrolment needs, including the construction of additional classrooms using the modular Industrialised Building System (IBS) method.

Wong said 677 projects were currently underway to construct 1,478 additional classrooms at 605 schools, in addition to 1,514 maintenance and upgrading projects to convert existing special-purpose rooms into classrooms.

“The MOE will continue to monitor registration progress and the readiness of schools, states and districts, while making adjustments from time to time as the data is dynamic,” he said.

Responding to a supplementary question from Aminuddin on concerns over a possible surge in last-minute registrations, Wong said MOE monitoring showed that registration trends remained consistent, with no sudden spike expected ahead of the 2027 school session.

He said the policy allowing six-year-olds to enrol in Year One was based on parental choice, with the seven-year-old cohort remaining the main entry group.

--BERNAMA