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Happy educators better outcome - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sarawak - News 2 Sarawak

Happy educators better outcome - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 18 Feb 2014 01:06 PM PST

by Karen Bong, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 19, 2014, Wednesday

Giving greater attention to teachers just as important as looking after well-being of students — Minister

KUCHING: Only a small percentage of educators in the state are beset by problems.

Nevertheless, the state Education Department views the matter seriously and sees the need for those afflicted to be given counselling and psychological support to enable them to live happy and healthy lives.

Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said giving greater attention to them was just as important as looking after the well-being of students.

"To improve the quality and academic achievement of our students, we must also improve the quality of life, health and productivity of our school employees," she said at the launch of Psychosocial Excursion Programme Sarawak 2014 at the auditorium of the state Education Department at Jalan Diplomatik, off Jalan Bako here yesterday.

She described educators as headmasters, principals, teachers, counsellors, psychologists as well as other support staff, who helped to nurture and substantially shape each and every generation of children.

"Therefore, I am glad that this fourth excursion, which has previously covered areas in Peninsular Malaysia, has reached Sarawak.

"This programme is an essential platform to help our educators in urban and rural schools, enhance their overall well-being for personal growth as well as improve on knowledge and skills needed to guide students," she added.

Wellness, Fatimah said, covered the physical, emotional, social, mental and spiritual aspects of a person, which had great impact on his/her quality of life and productivity.

"A healthy school community is the foundation for a better education outcome and in turn achieve the objective of our nation's education system," she said.

Noting the unique and growing challenges faced by teachers in a demanding 21st century world, Fatimah said they too required the space and room to grow and improve.

"We are only human, with individual weaknesses and strengths as well as differences and needs. We must understand the predicament faced by teachers.

"Therefore, the counselling and psychological services are intended to provide teachers with the support needed to improve their well-being, alleviate stress, cope with adjustment, resolve crisis and so on.

"I believe that if teachers have a healthy state of well-being, they can perform at optimum levels because they are tasked to carry out one of the nation's
most critical functions – to prepare our children to become successful and productive citizens," she said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Education Ministry's Psychology and Counselling Division secretary Dr Ruziati Mior Ahamad Ariffin assured that they would look into the matter in case-by-case basis.

"All humans have problems. Even though, there are only a handful of teachers with problems in Malaysia, we will do our best to help them.

"More importantly, they must be given the support to help them cope with the many challenges and changes ahead and find better ways or perhaps a solution to deal with their problems," she added.

State education director Datu Abdillah Adam agreed, saying: "We understand that teachers too have their needs and we want them to know that they are not neglected."

The three-day Psychosocial Excursion Programme Sarawak 2014 is also launched simultaneously in central and northern Sarawak.

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Technology must relate to society - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 19 Feb 2014 11:33 AM PST

by Wilfred Pilo, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 20, 2014, Thursday

KUCHING: Technology should be built with the 3As in mind – accessible, affordable and appropriate – in order for it to be useful to society.

This was pointed out by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) vice chancellor Prof Dr Mohamad Kudim Suaidi, who said it was also the government's requirement.

"There is no point in having technology that is a misfit and not giving benefit to us," he told a press conference after officially opening the First Asia Pacific Responsible Innovative Workshop here yesterday.

According to him, the 3A concept is crucial in the university's research work.

The workshop was organised by Unimas Responsibility Research Team in collaboration with their strategic partners from Europe and South America in Responsibility and Research Innovation (RRI) consortium.

"It is the first time we bring this workshop to Sarawak in particular Unimas," he said of the two-day workshop.

Dr Rohaya Mohd Nor from the Business Faculty of Unimas is the head of the Responsibility Team in Unimas and the chairperson of the workshop.

Meanwhile at the press conference, Rohaya revealed that RRI consortium is a concept already accepted in Europe.

"As network researcher for Unimas and other universities, we are accepted in the network and we are invited to the consortium once we submit our proposal."

Rohaya explained that Unimas is seen as important from the aspect of RRI in areas that need to be explored such as halal products.

"If we are to start with the supply chain, we start at the halal concept from the mind of the scientist," she explained.

Elena Tavlaki, the consortiums' spokesperson, praised Unimas for promoting the RRI ever since it joined the consortium in 2007.

"We are proud to collaborate with Unimas in certain emerging fields," she added.

On RRI, Tavlaki said the idea and concept behind it emerged from society itself – as many technologies were developing very fast and not easy to absorb but which every society was keen to follow.

"So the idea is to have this new technology and innovation to evolve with society. Meaning technology has to be with the society and for the society," she stressed.

"And the work has started to be complicated and we cannot work as individuals or countries alone," she added.

The co-ordinator for Responsibility Project Dr Zaharya Menevidis said from the engineering view, RRI is not only for Europe but for the whole world.

"When we talk about responsibility we know about the idea and learn from others.

"We then know the common definition and understanding among us. So this is what we hope from the workshop," he said.

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1,000 defence companies to participate in dsa 2014 – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 17 Feb 2014 02:36 PM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,000 defence companies from 45 countries are participating at the Defence Services Asia exhibition 2014 to be held here in April.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said he also expected the exhibition, to be held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) from April 14 to 17, to attract 27,000 trade visitors from 50 countries.

"A total of 27 Country Group Pavilions, including Malaysia, are also expected to participate in the exhibition and the biggest foreign pavilion is Turkey, with the participation of an estimated 50 companies," he told a media conference at Wisma Pertahanan here yesterday.

The exhibition will involve static defence equipment and technology, weapons system and the latest generic security solutions to meet the needs of the Malaysian Armed Force, the Royal Malaysia Police and security teams of countries in the Asia-Pacific region and encourage greater commitment to global defence, he added.

The exhibition, which will be from 9.30am to 4.30pm, will only be opened to trade visitors, members of the armed forces and the security teams, as well as local and foreign defence analysts and observers.

Among the key attractions during the event are the Chief of Army Roundtable Talk, Cyber Security, Putrajaya Forum, Asean Hall and Battlefield Healthcare.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Zulkifeli Md Zain, who as also present at the media conference, said the government was considering expanding the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) to Sarawak to guarantee security of residents there.

"We do not want any untoward incident to happen in future, such as the intrusion that happened in Lahad Datu, Sabah, last year.

"We view seriously matters on security to make sure history does not repeat itself," he said. — Bernama

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Belaga police investigate &#39;armed ferry guards&#39; claims – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 19 Feb 2014 11:03 AM PST

KUCHING: Belaga police are investigating complaints made by the local people that the ferry operator at Murum Dam has engaged unlicensed armed security personnel at the site.

Belaga police chief DSP Bakar Sebau said he had sent his officers to 'discreetly investigate' at the site.

"We consider the allegation as serious because no individuals are allowed to carry firearms without licences and permits."

He said he had to act because they had received complaints from the local people that
those security personnel at the ferry site seemed to be carrying firearms to intimidate the road users.

Bakar also said his personnel were willing to escort anyone from the relevant authorities to visit the site upon request.

"We are willing to provide escort service as long as they inform us of their need for such services," he said.

When contacted, a spokesperson for Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) spokesman said he would request the service of the police to escort their (SRB) officers to the site to check on the allegation of exorbitant fees charged by the ferry operator.

The board had said that the operator had not applied for any permit to operate a ferry service at Murum Dam and therefore should not charge any fee for the ferry users.

The Borneo Post has highlighted the issue in the last two days after the Penans settlers at Metalun complained to their MP Wilson Ugak Kumbong of the exorbitant fees charged by the ferry operator.

They said a 4WD vehicle is charged RM150 per crossing while a truck below 10 tonnes is charged RM250 per crossing. Logging trucks and dump trucks are charged RM400 per crossing; a trailer without goods is charged RM1,000 per crossing and those with goods are charged double the amount.

The ferry operates daily from 7am till 5pm.

Meanwhile, Ugak urged the relevant authorities, especially the local police and SRB, to take immediate action on the complaints made by the local people especially on alleged exorbitant fees as well as the armed security personnel employed by the ferry operator.

"The faster they act on the matter, the better it is for the people," he said.

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10 more MyCenTHE centres planned by 2016 – BorneoPost Online <b>...</b>

Posted: 19 Feb 2014 02:16 PM PST

JASIN: The Education Ministry hopes to set up 10 more Malaysian Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Education (MyCenTHE) centres by year 2016.

Deputy Education Minister II P. Kamalanathan said currently five MyCenTHE centres had been set up under the Entry Point Project 10 (EPP10) in Penang, Sabah, Sarawak, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka, since 2011.

He said MyCenTHE was set up to deliver high quality hospitality and management education programmes with a scholarly emphasis on research-based excellence within the discipline by utilizing real time training and work experience, thus, creating a climate of assured success within our prospective student body.

It is an initiative to raise greater awareness on education and career opportunities in the local hospitality and tourism industry among secondary school students.

"We will continue to ensure the programme received the support and commitment from the ministry to produce successful, highly employable and promising professionals with strong ethics and qualities of workmanship capable of yielding homegrown talent at their whim, domestically or internationally," he said after opening the Merlimau Polytechnic MyCenTHE here, yesterday. — Bernama

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