KUCHING: Next month, more than 2,000 teachers in Sarawak are expected to start their training in the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English.
Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong pointed this out during a courtesy call by a delegation of coordinators of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programmes throughout Sarawak from the Institute of Teacher Education Batu Lintang Campus today.
According to him, the retraining of teachers is part of the state government’s efforts to strengthen the teaching and learning of STEM in Sarawak.
“These teachers, especially those in primary schools, will be retrained as most of them are forced to teach Science and Mathematics.
“Most of them are less skilled in teaching these two subjects which are not their choices.
“With an allocation of RM10 million, we will work with four institutes of teacher education in the state, namely the Batu Lintang Campus in Kuching, Tun Abdul Razak Campus in Samarahan, Sarawak Campus in Miri and Rajang Campus in Bintangor to train these teachers,” he said, adding Sarawak was the only state in Malaysia to implement the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English in primary schools starting this year.
To upgrade the state’s education system and enable students to learn about technology, Manyin said the Sarawak government had also allocated RM12 million to build computer labs in 1,265 primary schools across the state within three years.
He added the state government would also set up the Sarawak Science Centre to further enhance the state’s human capital development by attracting young Sarawakians to STEM.
