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One-third of
Malaysian schools lack water, power
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KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - One-third of Malaysia's
schools do not have water and electricity, a minister said according
to a report Friday, pledging to fix the problem by 2010.
Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail told state news agency Bernama
that all 9,806 schools in the country will have access to basic
utilities by the end of a four-year education development plan.
Razali said 70 percent of schools in the country already have access
to water and electricity.
"The other 30 percent of the schools were mostly located in rural
areas but we are confident that the problem will be solved by 2010,"
he said.
Malaysia has implemented a series of five-year development plans with
the aim of reaching developed nation status by 2020.
In the last national blueprint announced in 2006, which focused on
closing the nation's widening wealth gap, the government said 1.15
billion ringgit (355 million dollars) would be spent to upgrade
schools.
While children at public schools in the capital Kuala Lumpur enjoy
computer facilities and sports grounds, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi admitted that hundreds of rural schools lack the most basic
facilities.
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