Compiled by RAHIMY RAHIM, C.ARUNO and R.ARAVINTAN
THE number of people applying to become teachers at Chinese vernacular schools rose by nearly 50%, the Education Ministry said.
Sin Chew Daily reported that Deputy Minister Wong Kah Woh said a total of 6,292 people applied for the Bachelor of Education (PISMP) programme specifically for SJKCs this year, up from 4,311 a year before.
This represented a 46% increase and it was the first time the number of applicants exceeded 6,000 for this programme, he said.
This comes after the ministry announced that the number of spots has gone up from 784 to 1,679 this year.
Wong said those who applied will be asked to take the Ujian Kelayakan Calon Guru (UKCG) and urged them to complete the assessment before the deadline.
It was earlier reported that out of the 1,679 available spots, 105 were specifically allocated to train teachers to teach the Chinese language subject, which is a 250% increase from just 30 in 2024.
Furthermore, the programme is now open to STPM holders in addition to those with SPM and UEC qualifications.
Candidates applying with STPM must have a minimum Gred Purata Sekolah of 3.5 whereas SPM graduates need 5As in addition to a credit in Bahasa Melayu and Chinese language.
All 784 spots for the PISMP programme specifically for SJKCs last year were filled from a total of 4,311 applications.
> Fans are excited about Michael Wong’s upcoming concert in Malaysia, even though ticket prices have doubled since his last show seven years ago.
Tickets for the July 19 concert at Stadium Merdeka are RM199, up from RM99 in 2018.
“Seven years ago, I missed the RM99 show, and I won’t make that mistake again,” one fan wrote.
Many Malaysian fans praised Ipoh-born Wong for keeping his shows affordable.
However, some fans are worried that being affordable would mean that they would have to compete with a larger crowd just to get a ticket.
Wong, who started his music career in the 1990s, was once nominated in the Best Male Mandarin Singer category in the 1997 Golden Melody Awards.
He is best known for his song Fairy Tale which was released in 2005.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
