Kota Kinabalu: A Sekolah Menengah Agama Negeri (SMAN) is set to be built in Sandakan at an estimated cost of RM50 million.
Sabah Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif, said the state government made the proposal through Sabah Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jheains).
“The proposal has been included as one of the development projects under the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK-13) and the school is to be built within the Batu 10 education hub area in Sungai Batang, Sandakan,” he said.
Arifin, who also serves as the state’s Education Exco, noted that the Sandakan division currently has 10 Sekolah Agama Negeri (SAN) with a total enrolment of 1,484 students.
“In view of this, establishing a SMAN is crucial to accommodate SAN students wishing to pursue secondary-level religious education in the same stream,” he said.
He was responding to a question raised by Datuk Jaffari Waliam (Nominated Assemblyman) on whether the State Government planned to build a SMAN in Sandakan.
Arifin further stated that once established, the school’s curriculum would be aligned with that of Al-Azhar University, following the model adopted by other state religious secondary schools.
“The curriculum will cover areas such as Usuluddin, Syariah, Ulum Syariah, Lughah Arabiah, and Arabic literature,” he said.
