KUCHING: Thirty-three primary school teachers received certificates of completion after undergoing Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus’ Raspberry Pi Level C Training Programme 2023.
Officiating at the opening ceremony and certificate presentation for the programme was Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) permanent secretary Azmi Bujang at Swinburne Sarawak recently.
Swinburne Sarawak Pro Vice-Chancellor and chief executive officer Professor Lau Hieng Ho in his welcoming remarks commended the programme as an excellent initiative by the Sarawak government to ensure that the state’s learners are future-ready and equipped to meet the needs of Industry 4.0.
“Swinburne and all of our partners are proud to be a key partner of the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development Sarawak in not just the Raspberry Pi programme, but also on a number of key strategic initiatives, to innovate, upskill and reimagine the education landscape of Sarawak.
“We emphasise that learning is a lifelong and repetitive process, hence, consistent with our Swinburne vision, we believe that every problem has a tech solution.
“We want to empower teachers and Sarawak to develop tech solutions beyond our university as well,” he said.
In addition, Azmi said that, to date, the Sarawak government through the ministry had provided 9,436 units of Raspberry Pi sets, including monitors, keyboards and mice, to 1,265 primary schools and 30 district education offices statewide.
“This is in line with our objective of promoting STEM and ICT education to students in Sarawak,” he said.
Azmi enjoyed a showcase on the Raspberry Pi system presented by senior lecturer Dr Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo and he also visited one of Swinburne Sarawak’s computer labs where the Raspberry Pi training is conducted.
As of February this year, Swinburne Sarawak has trained 225 teachers for Level C, targeting primary school teachers of Sarawak’s Southern Region for the first quarter of 2023.
The programme will continue for the central and northern regions from July onwards – aiming to train a total of 1,265 teachers for Level C this year.
In 2022, Swinburne Sarawak trained over 1,200 primary school teachers and district education officers from across Sarawak for Levels A and B.
Also present were MEITD deputy permanent secretary Anielia Siam, Education Department senior assistant chief assistant director (Information and Communications Technology Unit) Dr Ong Ewe Gnoh, Swinburne Innovation Malaysia (SWIM) chief executive officer Prof Wallace Wong and the Raspberry Pi training programme coordinator associate Prof Hugh Leong.
