Sabah doubles education scholarships to RM100mil

KOTA KINABALU: To ensure that more Sabahan children would get a chance to pursue tertiary education, Sabah has doubled the amount of education scholarships to RM100mil per year, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.“Education and human capital is one of the state’s main agenda to develop and improve on, so that is why we want to assist in any way possible,” he said.

Hajiji said quality human capital and excellence in education was important to ensure that policies and development agendas in the state were executed well.

He said this when closing a Mathematical Camp participated by over 300 students from 10 schools at SMK Taman Ria in Tuaran yesterday.

The text of his speech was delivered by Datuk Abdul Kassim Razali, who is the chief political secretary to the Chief Minister.

In acknowledging the worrying level of mathematics and additional mathematics as well as science subjects including Physics, Biology and Chemistry among students in Sabah, Hajiji said that it was necessary for the state to put in more focus on these subjects starting now.

“Compared to other states in the country, our performance in these subjects is quite worrying. We will put more emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in Sabah,” he said.

He urged the state Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry to work with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to form an integrated committee with the Sabah Education Department and other agencies on this matter.

“If there is a need, hold a plenary session to discuss this issue. Let us develop programmes, agenda and specific frameworks that help to boost interest and understanding on these subjects among our children,” said Hajiji.

He said the state was willing to allocate special funds to explore and solve the issues linked to this matter.

“We want to make sure that in the next 10 to 20 years, STEM subjects will no longer be a hindrance to our children’s academic performance,” he said.

Hajiji also hoped that this weakness would no longer hamper any child’s wish of getting into STEM-related fields when entering the workforce in the future.

Based on the Malaysia Education Statistic Report between 2020 and 2022, the number of students opting for science stream in the SPM level remains at 15%.

He said this number did not fit well with the state’s objective of achieving more in STEM-related fields by 2030.

“We must address this matter and solve the issue as soon as possible if we want to achieve our vision for the state,” said Hajiji.

He said a lack of human capital would hamper Sabah’s socio-economic development and technological advancement dream in the years to come.