KOTA KINABALU: No secondary school students in Sabah are reported to be involved in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or IS) activities.
Sabah education director Datuk Jame Alip told reporters after launching the TEKNOPEN Kinabalu yesterday that his department was also closely monitoring the activities of secondary school students in Sabah to ensure none took part in ISIS-related activities.
“I have instructed educators, namely school heads and religious teachers to play a critical role to ensure Muslim students at their respective schools were not involved in the ISIS activities.
“I have urged religious teachers to educate Muslim students to distance themselves from the teaching of ISIS as it is capable of distorting their faith,” he said.
Also being monitored are teachers, said Jame.
“I have instructed the Islamic Education Sector of the department to work together with school heads to ensure no educators were involved in ISIS activities. I have asked them to work with the Royal Malaysian Police, the Sabah Islamic Department and other relevant agencies in this matter,” he said.
Jame also urged teachers to dissuade their students from visiting ISIS sites on social media such as Facebook and Twitter as they could distort their beliefs and encourage them to take part in untoward activities.
He also warned students against bringing their telecommunication gadgets to school.
“If they brought these gadgets, schools can confiscate them. There is a regulation against bringing the gadgets to school,” he reminded.
He added that if the gadgets were allowed in schools, it could disrupt the students’ learning process.
Jame also commented on the teachers and learning process or PdP at schools and urged teachers to conduct action researches to check on the effectiveness of the process.
He said the findings from the researches conducted could help improve the achievement of students at schools through the adoption of better teaching practices.
Meanwhile, out of the 50 action researches conducted, only 20 would be shortlisted for the TEKNOPEN conference.
A total of 450 educators took part in the conference.