Datuk Fatimah Abdullah
KUCHING: Giving monetary incentives to encourage more students to go for science stream may not be a sustainable approach, opined Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah yesterday.
She felt that getting children to be interested in the key subjects, namely Science and Mathematics, from their young days would be more practical to realise the country’s target to have 60 per cent of students in the science stream.
“The incentive is workable to a certain extent. But that kind of incentive comes from outside, it is not sustainable. What is more sustainable is when a person feels motivated to learn it because he or she likes the subjects,” she told reporters after the graduation ceremony of SK Kenyalang here.
Fatimah, who is a former headmistress, observed that many children started to show interest in Mathematics and Science subjects when they were in primary schools.
“For instance, you will see children are very happy when they are able to solve a math question. That kind of happiness, to me, is the greatest motivation to learn a subject. As how to sustain the interest, teachers have a very big role to play. Sustainability must come from inside, while other things (like the proposed incentive) would be the bonuses.”
Fatimah stressed that a review in the pedagogy used in teaching Mathematics and Science subjects to make them more interesting would be able to minimise or even eliminate the negative feelings students have on the subjects.
“We need to let our children know there is nothing to fear about Mathematics and Science. They are all around us. They are part of our lives. This is very vital especially when we are entering the globalisation era where the country needs human capital who are savvy in Mathematics, Science and Technology.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Nov 6 said the Ministry of Education was proposing to give monetary incentives in the form of tax breaks to parents whose children opt for science stream.
He said they also planned to offer minor scholarships and textbook assistance to encourage more students make science stream their choice.
“A survey showed that over the last few years, there has been a decrease in the number of students opting to be in the science stream,” he said, revealing that only 20 per cent of all Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates this year were from science stream, well below the national target of 60 per cent.