Innovation starts from family, says Manyin

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Manyin visits one of the innovation and creativity booths at the college. — Photo by Roystein Emmor

KOTA SAMARAHAN: To be innovative starts from the family, says Minister of Education, Science Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin.

Unfortunately Sarawakians or Malaysians for that matter, have been very regimented, always telling their children not to do this and not do that in their growing up age.

“If you want to be innovative, if you want to create a thinking of innovation then children should be encouraged to do whatever they want to do, and give them the freedom to do their own things.

“It’s not easy because some things are very dangerous to do and some are not. But, they have to be guided. There should be a starting point, the family institution,” he said at the closing of a convention on research, innovation and creativity at Tun Abdul Razak Teachers’ Training Institute here yesterday.

Manyin said in the Malaysian context, failure is not an option whether it is at home or in schools.

He said people often said they must avoid failure at all cost, but to be innovative, failure is an option because through failure they can learn.

He said failure was an opportunity to learn, and not to take it (failure) as ‘never to try again’.

Manyin added that in certain countries, if the gifted students could answer all questions and solve all problems the teacher or lecturer would say they have learned nothing.

The teacher would have wasted his time because the students already knew everything.

He said this should be our set of thinking too.

Those who could not answer questions are the ones who would like to learn more.

On innovation, Manyin said it was a process of discovering something new, which have never been discovered before.

It is a process of discovering new ways of doing things, and discovering new values.

Meanwhile, he also congratulated the college for successfully organising the convention this year.

“I hope that through the convention we will continue to build an innovative and creative culture which is only taught at higher learning institutions,” he said.