Azhar (second right) presents the best DiSta award to the team from SK Sungai Penepah, Mukah. Also in the photo are State Education principal assistant director Thomas Kanyan Siam (first right) and Mestr’s deputy permanent secretary Dr Abd Rahman Deen. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak still needs assistance and intervention in order to ensure all 1,457 schools in the state are equipped with information and communication technology (ICT) in line with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Smart School Initiative.
State education director Dr Azhar Ahmad said that according to latest Smart School Qualification Standards (SSQS) Report for this year, 93.68 per cent of 1,457 schools in Sarawak have achieved the minimal standard of three-star ratings in technology integration in the classroom.
“Going into details, 2.81 per cent or 41 of the schools achieved five-star rating and excelled in applying ICT in teaching and learning (PdP ) and school management and administration (PdT).
“(A total) 20.18 per cent (or 294) schools met the four-star rating while 70.69 per cent (1,030) schools met the three-star rating. However, there are still 6.31 per cent (92) schools, mostly in the rural and interior, that need assistance and intervention to boost their ICT usage to reach the minimum level of three stars,” he said at the Pembestarian Sekolah (Smarting Up Schools) Awards presentation here today.
He was happy to note that the closure of schools for many days due to haze in September, was the litmus test of ICT application in schools whereby digital platform was used for teaching and learning for the affected teachers and students.
Azhar explained that the Smart School Initiative, a brainchild of Dr Mahathir when he was Prime Minister under the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project 20 years ago, has successfully improved the quality of teaching and learning as well as school management and administration through systematic use of ICT.
He added this initiative exposes the younger generation to successfully navigate the information age and has made a huge impact in the transformation of classrooms in all schools in Malaysia as well as producing good results.
With the country now facing the challenges of Industrial Revolution 4.0, he hoped efforts to apply ICT in schools will continue and to be upgraded to include new applications such as internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, augmented reality, big data and analytics and so on.
“We at the Ministry of Education and Sarawak Education Department need to think 10 years or even 20 years ahead to face the the globalisation impact of this ever changing technologies.
“Our younger generation in Sarawak especially must be equipped with the knowledge, soft skills, critical and creative thinking skills, effective communication ability and solid leadership skills,” he said.
On the Pembestarian Sekolah Awards this year, he thanked strategic partners Education, Science and Technological Research Ministry (MESTR) and Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) for their assistance and he hoped such collaboration will continue in the future.
Various award were presented in the ceremony which included SQQS awards for best primary school and best secondary school, and many others.
The highlight was the crowning of best digital storytelling animation (DiSta) winners for primary school and secondary school categories which were won by SK Sungai Penepah, Mukah and SMK Bandar Kuching No 1 respectively.