UiTM Confers Honorary Doctorate In Education On Rosmah

Shah Alam, Malaysia - Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of the prime minister, was Monday conferred a honorary doctorate in education by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for her contribution in the field of childhood education in the country.

UiTM Chancellor, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, presented the Honorary Doctorate in Education (Childhood Education) to Rosmah at a special commemorative convocation at the university.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his mother, Tun Rahah Tan Sri Mohamed Noah, were also present at the ceremony, held at the Seri Budiman Hall of the university.

Tuanku Mizan, in his address, described the conferment of the honorary doctorate on Rosmah as a great honour for women who, he said, showered tenderness, warmth and affection on and showed concern for children.

“It is most appropriate that this degree is awarded to Rosmah who is actively engaged in ensuring the welfare of children, particularly those in the rural areas and those who are less fortunate,” he said.

Rosmah, in her acceptance speech, said it was a historic moment for her and her family and that the degree would inspire her to work even harder in making human capital of children not only in Malaysia but elsewhere in the world.

She said the years of following her politician husband and leader on visits had enabled her to garner varied experience and knowledge upon seeing how Malaysia and several other countries were showing greater concern to the growth of children as the future human capital.

Rosmah said her endeavour along with a group of professionals to establish a form of quality education for children below five years of age, dubbed as the Permata Negara project, was well received by the government, which provided a launching grant of RM20 million.

“Little by little, with the support of many quarters, the project has eventually brought most encouraging results. Evidently, the children involved in the Permata Negara project show most positive growth in terms of emotion, maturity, self-confidence and communicative skills compared to their counterparts not involved in the project,” she said.

She said Permata Negara always strived to extend the project to children nationwide so that no child was marginalised wherever he or she might be, in accordance with the aspiration of the 1Malaysia concept.

“The government seems to be more confident of the direction taken by Permata Negara, and has allocated RM150 million through a stimulus package for an extension of the programme,” she said.

She said Permata Negara, which started out with 14 centres, anticipated that it would be able to raise the status of more than 300 kindergartens, including those run by the Community Development Department (Kemas), Felda and the Terengganu Family Development Foundation as well as those at workplaces and in the communities, by the end of this year.

Rosmah proposed that the Centre for Arts and Creativity in Childhood Education (AcCE) set up by the Education Faculty of UiTM be known as the Permata Negara Centre of Excellence in Arts and Creativity.

After the commemorative convocation, she launched the centre.

Source: http://www.bernama.com
Photo: http://www.nowpublic.com

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