ENCOURAGEMENT: Wong (left) presents certificates of Yayasan Sarawak Students Award to SMK St Elizabeth principal Clement Chieng.
SIBU: Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh has urged parents and students to look positively at technical education.
The Second Finance Minister and Minister of Local Government and Community Development said this was because they always had a misconception that technical education was inferior to the normal stream of education.
With such thinking, many people prefer managerial jobs to technical ones, he said at the presentation of Yayasan Sarawak Students Award at SMK St Elizabeth here yesterday.
“But the world has changed, particularly for the younger generation. There will be a greater demand for technically skilled workers in time to come, especially with the development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE),” he pointed out.
In view of this, he encouraged students to take up technical courses as SCORE would provide more opportunities for employment and business in the technical field.
Wong also urged students to continue achieving milestones in their life, saying learning was a lifelong process.
He called on them to strive to become more educated academically, morally, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally.
“This is important to make yourselves ready to face greater challenges ahead,” he said.
He pointed out that the federal government had set aside over 20 per cent of the national budget for the development of education.
Quality education, he said, would determine the quality of the people and thus, would determine the nation’s productivity.
Meanwhile, Yayasan Sarawak director Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki revealed that 1,023 students in Sibu would receive the award this year, compared to only 902 last year.
He said they were part of the 6,324 students in the state eligible for the award this year.
Out of the number, he said, 1,904 were for those who excelled in UPSR, 2,941 (PMR), 1,383 (SPM) and 100 (STPM) exams last year.
He said the award was one of Yayasan Sarawak’s efforts to encourage students to study hard and help the excellent ones, especially those with financial difficulties, further their studies.
“It is our philosophy that no student in this state would be deprived of education, especially tertiary education because of financial problems,” he said.
He also said Yayasan Sarawak was putting greater emphasis on technical education now to meet the needs of SCORE.