Among them, 190 projects have not even taken off – five were due to have started in 2019, 80 in 2020 and another 105 this year.

Another 80 have been delayed during the same period – 17 in 2018, 37 in 2019 and 26 last year.

The dashboard says 49 such projects were now in progress and were running according to schedule.

Meanwhile, 437 projects to repair dilapidated schools have been completed over the last four years.

Several attempts by FMT to reach the ministry a few months ago for details and reasons for the delays of the projects were futile.

One official who declined to be named said the delays or non-starters over the last two years could be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic which stopped all renovation work. However, he was not sure of the reasons for the delays before that.

He pointed out that the delays also happened in 2019 when Maszlee Malik was the education minister under the Pakatan Harapan government.

Maszlee had brought the issue to the limelight when he expressed shock over the number of schools that were dilapidated and waiting to be upgraded under Projek Daif.

He tweeted that 104 school renovation projects for 2021 had not started and none had been completed by Oct 5.

According to the dashboard, the delayed school repair projects included 59 schools in Sarawak, 30 in Sabah, five in Kedah, two each in Perak and Terengganu, and one school each in Labuan, Johor, and Selangor.

Education minister Radzi Jidin had told Parliament the decision to put such schools on the list of dilapidated schools was based on their location, the scope of work involved and the cost.