KOTA KINABALU: The education system should ensure that students are equipped with the appropriate and necessary skills to join the workforce and develop the nation.
Sabah Minister of Education and Innovation Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob said education was in the forefront of all business and technological advances and as technology and innovative ideas evolved rapidly, Malaysia could not afford to lag behind other countries, especially in the
South-East Asian region.
“Graduates can no longer wait for jobs to come to them; instead they have to go out and
create jobs and turn them into industries.
“The Malaysian Education Blueprint 2015-2025 has mooted the idea of an Innovation Ecosystem as one of the platforms to enhance the competency of our future workforce,” he said when officiating at the opening of the 6th Malaysian International Conference on Academic Strategies in English Language Teaching (MyCaselt) and the 3rd Language Invention, Innovation & Design (LIID) Exposition 2019 here, yesterday.
On where the ELT professionals fit in the scheme of producing marketable graduates, Yusof said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir had stated that “Mastering English, in terms of teaching and learning is crucial as it is an international language needed for management and administration.”
“He also mentioned that proficiency in English can help generate more employment opportunities. Hence, the ability to master English is part and parcel of producing competitive graduates and the role of the ELT professional cannot be disputed.
“No matter how good and skilled a person is, ideas remain as ideas if not communicated and utilised. The ability to articulate thoughts and present ideas effectively is an art in itself. English may be the lingua franca, but it is not our mother tongue,” he said adding that ELT professionals play a vital role in equipping students with essential communication skills to meet the needs of the industry.
Yusof also said the new generation of students presented a huge challenge to educators everywhere as their access to technological advances and social media networking made the traditional classroom a dull and uninspiring place, and learning became a tedious experience.
Therefore, educators have to be innovative and ELT professionals require some degree of autonomy in determining how to connect with this new breed of learners, he said. – Bernama
