KUCHING, July 17 ― Many rural schools here that lack reliable water and power supply also suffer from poor road connectivity that makes them inaccessible in inclement weather, said state Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong said today.

He claimed that many federal education ministers have shed tears upon personally witnessing the condition of such schools.

"But when they returned to Kuala Lumpur they completely forgot about the schools. So I don't know if they shed crocodile tears in front of us,” Manyin told reporters after his winding-up speech in the Sarawak State Assembly.

He said this is one of these reasons many rural schools in Sarawak are in dilapidated conditions and without electricity and treated water supply.

Earlier in his winding-up speech, he said 428 rural schools in the state do not have treated water supply, with many depending on rainwater harvest, gravity feed, tube wells and water from rivers to cope.

He said the state Education Department submitted a proposal in 2016 to the Education Ministry for 62 of the 428 schools within a kilometre of water mains to be connected, involving an estimated cost of RM9.2 million.

The ministry has approved a sum of RM2.3 million last month, he said.

As for power, Manyin said 371 schools were fully dependent on generator sets.

He said under the Education Ministry's current contract, these schools were to be installed with solar hybrid system as of from January 1, 2017.

"However, we are of the opinion that installing the solar hybrid system is not a total solution,” he said.

Manyin said his ministry had in 2017 submitted a proposal for 113 of these schools within the 10km of the electricity grid to be connected at an estimated cost of RM50 million.

He said his ministry intends to pursue the matter with the federal counterpart to ensure that these schools can enjoy 24 hours supply of electricity.

He said 258 other schools that are far from the electricity grid probably can be considered to be installed with solar hybrid system.

On accessibility of rural schools, Manyin said 200 can be accessed by river or sea while 521 others could not be accessed by all-weather roads.

"This does not only affect students' attendance in schools, especially during unfavourable weather conditions,  but also affect teachers who have to commute regularly,” he said.

Manyin said the RM500 million special funding for fixing dilapidated schools for this year and another RM500 million for next year, as announced by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last year, has not been received by the state government.

"We sincerely hope that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government will honour the decision made then, in the interest of education of our young children,” he said.