Sarawak to focus on English, along with BM

SIBU: Sarawak will move on and ignore the hoopla about its decision to use the English language alongside Bahasa Malaysia in its administration, says its Deputy Minister of Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Dr Annuar Rapaee (pic).

The state government had, in fact, been working hard to ensure that its students were well-versed in the language so that they would be able to excel in their studies and have a bright future.

“If they don’t like English, let them be, but for us, we are moving on with our efforts to improve English proficiency among our students,” he told reporters after presenting the Student Activity Books and Learning Aid to nine schools in the Nangka state constituency, here, yesterday.

The presentation is part of Dr Annuar’s initiatives as the Nangka assemblyman to obtain 1,000 books to meet the needs of primary school children from 22 longhouses in his constituency.

The project is carried out in collaboration with a local education foundation, the Farley Foundation.

“These books are suitable for that age group but focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) such as the galaxy, animals and plants. They cost no more than RM20 each,” he said.

Dr Annuar explained that about 100 books would be kept at each longhouse for a period of three months, and thereafter, they would be rotated among the longhouses involved.

Stressing that reading is important for one to gain knowledge, he hoped the effort would help inculcate a reading habit among pupils at the longhouses.

“In three to five years’ time, they can become excellent students. But the question now is how to ensure that they will read the books provided for them?

“There must be a way to record the data on how many books the students read to ensure the effectiveness of the reading programme.

“I’ll talk to my IT assistants about how to record the data. We will probably create an application for it as data is crucial in ensuring the effectiveness of the programme,” he added.

Apart from the reading programme, his service centre has resumed the free tuition classes for pupils at the longhouses involved, which were halted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The four-times-a-week tuition classes at the longhouses’ communal space called “ruai” start at 6.30 pm and end at 9pm with the longhouse chiefs monitoring the pupils’ attendance. — Bernama