KUCHING: The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) will continue to encourage educational programmes that expose students to science and technology so that they can translate the knowledge into something useful and beneficial.
Its deputy minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said one of the characteristics for Malaysia to be a developed nation by year 2020 was to have a competitive edge.
“By possessing the know-how and turning them into something beneficial for one self and the community is what it takes to be competitive.
“Students, through hands-on and interactive educational programmes, must be encouraged from young to be inventors and innovators by putting into practice what they have learnt in school. That way they will contribute to the nation’s competitive edge,” he said at the closing of the ‘11th Malaysian Innovation Foundation (YIM) Kids Invent! Workshop’ at the State Library yesterday.
The programme saw the participation of 362 students aged between 10 and 12 years from 35 primary schools in Kuching, Samarahan, and Padawan.
There were a total of six different activities conducted during the one-day workshop, which touched on the four basic components often used to gauge a child’s creativity, namely speed, flexibility, originality and sensitivity.
At the end of the programme, three best performers of Kids Invent! Sarawak were chosen to represent the state at the finals in Kuala Lumpur this coming November.
The winners are Nur Ain Shairul Nizam from SK Kampung Senari, Mohd Alif Akmal (SK Temenggung) and Mohammad Arbain Azmi (SK St Martin Merdang).
They will be accompanied by their parents on an all-expenses-paid trip to the finals.
Kids Invent! is a licensed programme from the United States since 1997. It aims to foster creative thinking, inventing and entrepreneurial enterprise among primary and secondary school students.
The programme is held nationwide and is jointly organised by Mosti, YIM and the state Education Department.
Also present at the ceremony were YIM chief executive officer Dr Mazalan Kamis and state education deputy director Jaidah Alek.