KUCHING: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) plans to offer an Iban language degree programme to help address the shortage of Iban language teachers in Sarawak.
Unimas vice-chancellor Prof Dr Ahmad Hata Rasit said the Bachelor of Education in Iban Language would be offered under its Education, Language and Communication Faculty.
"We hope to begin this programme in the first semester of the 2025/2026 academic year," he said during a visit to Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah on Friday (Feb 16).
Prof Ahmad said Unimas would also introduce another Iban language course for the communication profession as an elective.
This would be offered to students in the first semester of the 2024/2025 year.
In addition, he said the Education, Language and Communication Faculty planned to set up a Borneo languages department.
"This will include Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau and the Sarawak Malay dialect," he said.
Also present during the visit were Unimas board of directors chairman Tan Sri Sulong Matjeraie, deputy vice-chancellor (student affairs and alumni) Prof Dr Al- Khalid Othman, Education, Language and Communication Faculty dean Prof Dr Ambigapathy Pandian and lecturers Dr Remmy Gedat and Dr Santrol Abdullah.
Uggah, who was also Unimas pro-chancellor, had suggested last month that local universities offer Iban language courses to produce more trained teachers in the language.
He had said he would discuss the matter with the Education Ministry and Unimas, as there was currently a lack of trained Iban language teachers in primary and secondary schools in the state.
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