New Strategies Needed To Enculturate S & T Among Sarawak Malays

Kuching - New strategies are needed to enculturate science and technology (S & T) among Sarawak Malays, especially students, says a Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer here.

The university‘s deputy vice-chancellor (Academic and Internationalisation), Prof Dr Fatimah Abang has also suggested the formation of a group of thinkers to draw up the strategies.

She said the group would also need to conduct an in-depth study on the achievement status of the state‘s Malays in science and technology.

In her working paper entitled, "Enculturating Science and Technology Among Sarawak Malays: A Retrospective", she said a complete data base on Sarawak Malays, particularly on their academic achievements in science and technology, must be created.

"With this information, the study and analysis can be expanded before making the conclusion and suggestions for enculturating science and technology among the Malays in Sarawak," she said at the 5^th Sarawak Malay Culture Seminar, here, Thursday.

Fatimah said although there were Malays in the state who were medical doctors, engineers and scientists in various fields, overall they still lagged behind in science and technology.

She said to enculturate science and technology among Malay students, their interest in the two fields must be nurtured from the primary school level so that they would choose to study in the two fields at the secondary school and tertiary levels.

She also suggested increasing the number of Malay students in science and technology where Unimas and the matriculation centre could play an important role, while the enculturating infrastructure should be built in schools or upgraded.

She said Malay parents should be directly involved in their children‘s learning of science and technology in the home and not just by giving moral support.

"Parents‘ support for their children‘s education must be holistic to face the challenges ahead with confidence in this age of genomics, robotics, informatics and nanotechnology," she added.

Source: Bernama.com.my (March 19^th, 2009)
Photo: Yadim.com.my

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