State to formulate its own method in educating young children – CM
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak wants to have its own system of educating young children even though education is under the federal government.
Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state could not wholly depend on the federal government in education matters.
“Education is under the Federal (List) but we should not rely 100 per cent on the federal government. We must have our way on how we want to educate our younger children.
“We want to inculcate the culture of wanting to learn more in our younger children. And that’s why the Ministry of Education, Science and Research Technology encourages elected representatives to each adopt a school to encourage students to speak English,” he said at the ‘Ramah Tamah Aidilfitri and Ngiling Bidai 2017’ hosted by Sarawak Tropical Peat Research Institute (TROPI) here yesterday.
Abang Johari said the ‘Adopt a School’ initiative was aimed at enhancing the command of the English language among young Sarawakians, while not neglecting Bahasa Malaysia.
He said he was aware that some quarters might term the initiative as being ‘not patriotic’.
He was quick to say that patriotism should have nothing to do with the language that a citizen used; it should be the contributions of that particular citizen to the state or the country.
According to him, a Sarawakian who has done the state proud is considered patriotic regardless of the language he or she speaks.
Citing an example, he said a Bintulu-born Sarawakian had invented a mechanism in Singapore to help the neighbouring country manage its water supply.
“So now Singapore is supplying treated water to Johor, which was not like what happened in the past. There used to be a time when Malaysia supplied treated water to Singapore,” he added.