KUCHING: The education ministry should invest in a policy to provide training to meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“We are moving towards IR4.0 which is going to be the economy throughout the world. Thus, Malaysia should provide training to the people in order to match the demands of IR4.0.
“To me, Mathematics, Sciences and English are important, so our policy should focus on these subjects,” he told reporters after launching the Block Pandelela at P’Residence in Batu Kawah here, yesterday.
On Sarawak’s part, Abang Johari said that the state government was already on track to strengthen these subjects in order to meet the requirements of IR4.0 by initiating the building of five international schools in the state.
“The syllabus would be more or less similar to the international syllabus and this will provide our people the opportunity to define what their future would be like.
“These are the areas we have to go into, not on the petty things like argument over Jawi script to be taught in schools. Leave it to the parents to decide,” he said.
When asked whether he was happy with the performance of former Education Minister Maszlee Malik who resigned on Thursday, he said Maszlee has certain weaknesses and strengths.
“I have had good discussions with Maszlee especially on the issue of dilapidated schools in the state which led to how I came up with the idea of offering state’s fund to rebuild or repair the dilapidated schools. He supported me and that is how we work,” he said.
He pointed out that one of Maszlee’s weaknesses was regarding the appointment of Tan Sri Dr Kamal Mat Salih as the new chairman of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Board of Directors without informing the state government.
“There are certain areas that he is lacking in, but that is normal. Nobody’s perfect,” he said.
