LIGHT MOMENT: Muhyiddin talks to one of the students who received offer letters for the National Scholarship Programme. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Human capital development that is structured and holistic is vital to produce a large pool of knowledge workers (K-workers), said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said balanced human capital development would also help ensure that the labour force in the country remained relevant to market needs and enabled Malaysian workers continue to be competitive in the highly challenging international arena.
As such, he said, the government had come up with various initiatives including a National Scholarship Programme to nurture, develop and retain top talent.
“Human capital development that is holistic will enable transformation to take place in a broader context, which includes the transformation of the individual, families, community and country.
“This will also help produce Malaysians with balanced personalities who are superior intellectually and spiritually, skilled, competent, patriotic, disciplined and practice good values??,” he said at a ceremony to present offer letters for the National Scholarship Programme to 50 students, here, yesterday.
On the National Scholarship Programme, Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the scholarships were prestigious and only offered to outstanding students to pursue further studies at top-notch universities worldwide based strictly on merit.
“It is hoped the awarding of such scholarships will encourage educational institutions, teachers, parents and students to continue to play their role to ensure holistic development of students’ character,” he said.
Under this programme, students will be funded from the preparatory stage to undergraduate level in a course of their choice.
It was introduced in 2010 with 30 students from the 2009 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination batch awarded the scholarship.
From last year, the number of recipients was increased to 50 people, after taking into account the significant increase in students who excelled in SPM examination in 2011. — Bernama