Education should focus on technical skills – Dompok
PENAMPANG 2/10/2012: Plantation Industry and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok would like to see the country’s education system to be more focussed on ‘technicalities’ and not simply about students getting paper qualifications.
“This is because educating students that will give them skills to improve their life and gain employment after leaving school means that the country will have an employable work force,” he said.
The Penampang member of parliament in his speech at the unveiling the new signage for SM St Michael disclosed that there were employment opportunities in the main sectors throughout the country as Malaysia needs 270,000 blue collared workers.
“There are opportunities in the plantation and agriculture sector for those who are able to obtain certificates in plantation technologies. Therefore I am trying to organize courses through my ministry that will allow students obtain certificates in certain skills such as rubber tapping and harvesting oil palm,” he said.
According to Dompok, certain skilled workers such as bricklayers command high respect and pay because of their work.
“I want to do the same with the plantation sector and want to see rubber tappers get the same recognition. I want to teach the people how to get skills so that they can get into the job market,” he stressed.
Speaking to reporters later, Dompok explained that he saw the country’s education system heading towards teaching ‘technicalities’.
“This is how I see the education direction of this country, that we should no longer encourage paper chase. Instead we should go more into education that will help the students adjust themselves to life, get a job after leaving college or university and in this case there is a lot of scope for technical type education here.
“That is how a lot of countries have progressed because they have a ready work force when the students leave the university. At the moment there are a lot of unemployed graduates (in the country) mainly because they come from disciplines that are not quite marketable in the general market.
“This is one of the things we have to depart from. In my ministry for example, I have set up IMPAC, (Institute of Malaysian Plantation and Commodities) with the hope that we can get more people educated at certificate level or even at the skills level, as simple as rubber tapping,” he said.
He added that he wanted to see rubber tappers in Malaysia be certified.
“We are trying to create an employment situation because even at the moment we import a lot of rubber tappers. In Sarawak, they are using tappers from China and they are doing very well. I think it is because they have got very good work ethics,” he said.
According to Dompok the course on harvesting oil palm held recently was very well attended and as it was a comprehensive course, not just a harvesting course, the participants got to learn more about the plantation sector.
The course ran for two months and by the end of it, the participants were offered jobs in some of the plantations that they did their practical training in, he disclosed, adding that some were even promoted as supervisors because they showed leadership qualities.
“This is the direction of the ministry and the country, which is to provide more opportunities for people to pursue skills, to pursue specialized courses rather than the mere acquisition of paper qualifications, he said.
During the event, Dompok also presented excellence awards to SM St Michael students who did well in their examinations and co-curricular activities.
The new signage was donated by SM St Michael’s Primary Six Class of 1962 which Dompok is the patron.
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Pelajar perlu seimbang dalam semua aspek.
BalasPadamsetuju, sebaiknya pelajar mempunyai keseimbangan dalam semua aspek.
PadamPelajar boleh memilih sekolah yang lebih banyak memberi kemahiran seperti sekolah teknik, vokasional, politeknik. Di peringkat universiti pelajar pun boleh memilih kursus juga samada mahu kursus yang bersifat teknikal atau Balinese. bagi saya, semuanya terpulang pada diri sendiri.
BalasPadamCooperation to ensure school building are safe, an allocation of RM30,000 for repairing and maintaining the school drainage system
BalasPadamBaiklah jika peruntukan diberi untuk projek naik taraf.
PadamMusa has given 209 hectares of land in Keningau, about 90km from Kota Kinabalu, for a new campus of the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
BalasPadamChief minister Musa Aman gave state scholarships to 25 top secondary school pupils worth slightly more than one million ringgit to pursue courses at local universities.
BalasPadamMasterskill college started with a few hundred nursing students in Kota Kinabalu two years ago. It now has increase to more than 3000 pursuing diplomas
BalasPadamSince 2005, the Sabah government has been sponsoring the training of IT professionals.By the end of 2010, it would have trained more than 120,000 of them.
BalasPadamteruskan lagi usaha untuk memberikan kemahiran pada golongan belia.
PadamKemahiran itu penting jadi pastikan setiap orang ada kemahiran yang patut dikuasa.
BalasPadamgolongan yang ada kemahiran boleh bersaing dalam pasaran kerja.
PadamMasing-masing harus membaiki skill dan pengetahuan agar adanya daya bersaing.
Padambidang kemahiran sudah menjadi semakin penting pada masa sekarang.
BalasPadampeluang untuk bidang kemahiran kini sudah semakin banyak.
BalasPadamRakyat juga harus berusaha untuk mengambil kursus agar boleh bersaing dengan orang lain.
BalasPadamSistem pendidikan di Malaysia masih tidak sempurna.
BalasPadamBelia boleh gunakan kemahiran ini untuk mencari makan.
BalasPadamkemahiran kini amat perlu, jadi ceburi bidang kemahiran.
BalasPadamThe Barisan Nasional (BN) government has been able to provide a comprehensive education system coupled with an education philosophy to produce human capital that will propel Malaysia towards achieving developed-nation status by 2020.
BalasPadamDeputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government through its education policy had managed to reduce poverty that plagued the country’s rural population, including in Sabah, to below three per cent by implementing various infrastructural and other development projects.
BalasPadamSince 1957 (independence), where the country’s population was about seven million, the poverty rate at 70 per cent then has been gradually reduced. This has also been made possible through the outstanding education policy and quality co-curriculum … now the poverty rate has dropped to below three per cent.
BalasPadamMuhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the challenges today must be shouldered by all quarters, especially the educators who should help raise the quality of education in line with schools’ infrastructural development undertaken by the government since the country’s independence.
BalasPadamIn this respect, all teachers are expected to be experts in their field, for instance, English language teachers to be proficient in the language and the Science option teachers, in teaching Science and Mathematics.
BalasPadamBesides that, parents should be told that the curriculum system provided is aimed at producing knowledgeable citizens and that the education received is of high quality, comparable to that of developed countries.
BalasPadamHe also stressed the important role of teachers and especially the school heads and principals in enhancing leadership capability in order to take the national education system to a higher level.
BalasPadamOn the IAB branch, he said it would help raise leadership quality among the educators through the various courses and programmes conducted.
BalasPadamMuhyiddin said the National Education Dialogue series were held nationwide to gather feedback and views from various quarters as input to further improve the system, besides overcoming its weaknesses.
BalasPadamHe said the dialogue series held in each state involved the National Education Advisory Council chairman, Tan Sri Dr Wan Mohd Zahid Mohd Noordin and education experts, with the report expected to be ready by the year-end for theproposed improvements to be made as soon as possible.
BalasPadamThe Budget 2013's emphasis on the welfare of the people in Sabah and Sarawak dispels claims by the opposition that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government is treating the people in the two states as 'stepchildren', according to leaders in the two states.
BalasPadamIn fact, the budget would not only spur the economy of the people in both states to a higher level but also help them to enhance their livelihood for a better future.
BalasPadamThe budget would help to lower the price of goods with the allocation by the government to subsidise transportation costs of essential items in Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.
BalasPadamEducation-wise, the allocation to upgrade schools should be lauded, considering that the facilities in some schools, students' hostels and teachers' quarters in the interior of Sarawak are of lower standard.
BalasPadamMeanwhile, United Sabah People's Party (PBRS) president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup welcomed the expansion of the 1Malaysia People's Shop (KR1M) to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
BalasPadamBesides the KRIM, the standardisation of prices and provision of tranportation subsidy will benefit the people of Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan especially those in the interior.
BalasPadamIn this respect, It is hoped that the people will appreciate and welcome the government's efforts to enhance their living standard, said the Natural Resources and Environment deputy minister.
BalasPadamParti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu PBB youth chief Datuk Fadillah Yusof said the budget proved the government's earnestness in its struggle for the people, particularly in the allocation of RM386 million to standardise the price of goods in Sabah dan Sarawak.
BalasPadamThe budget focuses on every strata of society especially by reducing the burden of the people in the interior through rural development, basic infrastructure and stabilising the price of essential goods.
BalasPadamMeanwhile, Kalabakan MP Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh said the price of goods in Sabah was higher by 30 to 50 percent compared to the peninsula because of higher logistics cost.
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