SAMARAHAN: The Sarawak government is committed to improving the state’s education system so that no students are left behind.
Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn said his ministry would help the federal government to develop the education system, particularly to accelerate its progress.
“The ministry’s focus is to improve the performance of our students who are lagging behind, especially in public exams such as Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM),” he said in his speech at the launching of the Bahagian Kemasukan Pelajar IPTA (BKPA) Outreach Programme Sarawak Zone, at Dewan Jubli, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM) Samarahan yesterday (Jan 13).
His text of speech was read by his Assistant Minister Dr Annaur Rapaee.
Sagah said the government would not remain passive, but take a role and responsibility to improve state’s education system.
“Even though education comes under the responsibility of the federal government in terms of budgets and policies, we will also play our part so that our students’ academic performances can be improved and no one will be left behind.
“Since our ministry was established in 2017, the state government has allocated RM2.174 billion to conduct education programmes.
“This reflects our commitment to make education as a human capital investment,” added Roland.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that the outreach programme was mooted from problems that students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He explained that BKPA and the Higher Education Department noted a drop in the number of students applying for UPUOnline compared to previous years, especially students from rural areas.
“Therefore, BKPA sensed there was a need to reach out to these rural students through this outreach programme.
“This way, the students can be guided to apply for public higher education institutes, polytechnics, community colleges or other institutes through UPUOnline,” Sagah said.
The outreach programme will be held statewide, beginning yesterday at the UITM Samarahan Campus. The next stop will be Hotel Meligai in Kapit on Jan 14, followed by Mukah Polytechnic (Jan 15), Parkcity Everly in Bintulu (Jan 16) and Dewan Suarah Marudi (Jan 17).
Sagah thanked UITM Sarawak for playing the role as the programme organiser.
“I believe their collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education will help increase student intakes from Sarawak into public higher education institutes.
“I was also informed that that the university is also chosen as the secretariat for the Jom Masuk IPT programme which will be on Feb 19 and 20,” he said.
