Fatimah (centre) looking through the notes after chairing the MPPS meeting yesterday. Also seen is MPPS member Serina Sauni (left) and Ministry of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing permanent secretary Datin Megir Gumbek.
KUCHING: The Sarawak Education Consultative Council (MPPS) held its first meeting yesterday to deliberate on several key areas which will be used to chart out the state’s education roadmap.
On Nov 1, the state cabinet gave its approval to the formation of MPPS and for Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah to lead it.
Other notable MPPS members include academicians such as Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak rector Professor Datuk Dr Jamil Hamali and Islamic Council of Sarawak Education Bureau director Datu Dr Adi Badiozaman Tuah.
“Under the state’s devolution of power, there are 13 points of agreement and one of the points is education,” said Fatimah at a press conference after chairing the MPPS meeting at a leading hotel here yesterday.
Among the highlights of the meeting, she said, were deliberations about stressing on the importance of the English language among students and teachers.
The target group will be at the pre-school level as young children have the capability to grasp several languages effectively at a tender age, she added.
Other areas being deliberated upon included ways to encourage more students to participate in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Stem), especially primary school pupils.
The minister said this was in response to the decreasing number of students who are taking or enrolling themselves in subjects related to Stem.
“We need to address this issue, in order for us to become progressive and make Sarawak prosperous,” said Fatimah who is also Dalat assemblywoman.
On another note, MPPS which acts as an entity to assist the State Education Department has also identified schools in dilapidated conditions in the state.
Besides looking into the school’s physical aspects such as buildings, MPPS was also concerned about the school’s basic infrastructure such as electricity and water supply.
Fatimah also said that under the 1BestariNet project–where 10,000 government schools will be connected via 4G internet connection–will auger well for teachers and students as they can strengthen and speed up their teaching and learning methods.
“If we want to catch up with the other states, not only in terms of academic performances of our students, we must also make sure to give focus on internet facilities,” said Fatimah, on this project which is expected to be fully launched in 2017.
Meanwhile, she disclosed the state was inching closer to the 90:10 ratio of local to Semenanjung Malaysia teachers working in Sarawak.
“As of 2016, we have reached 85.6 per cent of local teachers teaching in schools in Sarawak,” she added.
Fatimah also revealed that the state government has allocated RM4 million for human capital development through the various intervention programmes carried out by MPPS.