Eastern Malaysian states such as Sabah and Sarawak have suffered enormously from a lack of proper infrastructure.
The lack of proper roads, bridges and jetties have often made it extremely dangerous for school children to get to schools.
Recently, yet another instance of the above was highlighted. In a video which has been circulating on social media, a group of school children and their teachers were spotted in the water after the wooden jetty that they were on, suddenly collapsed.
The incident was reported to have taken place at Pulau Pababag near Semporna, Sabah.
In the heartbreaking video, young schoolchildren and their teachers had fallen into the water with some struggling to stay afloat. The teachers were spotted trying to calm the students down and swimming around to try to ensure that none of them drowned.
It is unclear whether there were any casualties.
Same old issues
At this point, it is no longer rare to see videos of schoolchildren in Sabah and Sarawak face dangerous obstacles just to make it to school. This incident has proven as yet another example of the failure to implement proper facilities.
The video has gone viral and plenty of netizens took to the comments section to condemn the authorities for not doing better to ensure that such incidents were to not happen.
“Imagine what happened to their exercise and text books.”
“Pity the teacher in white who slipped and fell. The teachers have to sacrifice a lot to teach in rural areas like this. Hopefully the authorities will take immediate action,” said a user.
Another commented, “It’s 2023 but we still face problems like these.”
Meanwhile, a couple of users suggested solutions for the authorities to implement immediately to ensure that there are no repeats of the incident.
“Better to build a steel bridge for them to go to school.”
“The jetty should’ve been fixed a long time ago and not just wait for lives to be threatened before being repaired,” said another netizen.
Watch the video below:
Pulau Pababag Semporna katanya ini..
Jeti roboh, kasihan guru dan budak2 sekolah.
Tak perlu lah tiang bendera tinggi2 yaa, jetinya dibaiki pls. pic.twitter.com/3G2pGc6luS
— KucingKèrong (@KlutzyKucing) January 30, 2023
We hope that the authorities step in to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future for the sake and safety of our schoolchildren.
Also read: WATCH: Kid Throws Tantrum While Fishing After Not Catching a Single Fish, Amuses M’sians
