KOTA SAMARAHAN: Some 200 students from Samarahan District attended Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sarawak’s ‘Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)’ Fair. Held at the university here yesterday, the event saw Minister of Educat ion, Sc ience, and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong officiated at the ceremony. “STEM is important because all aspects of our lives revolve around it.
We cannot escape it because that is the future we are heading towards to. “That is why my Ministry welcomes any party which can help to instil, cultivate, and nurture the interest towards STEM among students,” Manyin said in his opening speech. Regarding the state’s low achievement in STEM (at only 23.5 per cent), Manyin said that his ministry is still trying to identify the root cause.
“One of the main reasons is the large number of dilapidated schools in the State, some of which are beyond repair. This could be a demotivation factor.
“Another reason is because many schools lack specialist teacher s in STEM subject s. Hence, many teachers are forced to teach subjects they are not trained for. “Because of this, some teachers might not follow the right methods, thus killing the students’ interest in STEM,” Manyin stressed. On the event, Manyin praised UiTM Sarawak for organi s – ing the STEM Fair, saying that i t would help ins t i l interes t among students in the coming years.
“We have to prepare for the future and we don’t want to fail our Chief Minister’s vision of a digital economy,” he added. Also present at the event were the university’s Rector, Prof Dato Dr Jamil Haji Hamali and permanent secretary to Ministr y of Educat ion, Sc ience, and Technological Research Datu Sudarsono Osman.
