Dr M to uphold Look East Policy

GEORGE TOWN: PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he will continue to espouse the Look East policy as Japan and South Korea are highly respected not only for their successes in many fields, but also their values, such as diligence, trustworthiness, discipline and patriotism.

These, he said, were the values he wanted teachers to instil in students.

He said these values should be upheld and practised by Malaysians so that they could be successful.

“I want to take this opportunity to ask teachers to instil these values in students.

“If this can be done, it can become a culture,” he said when officiating the 48th national-level Teachers Day celebration here yesterday.

Around 3,500 teachers attended the celebration, themed “Guru, Obor Hemah Menyinari Pertiwi”, at the Setia Spice Convention Centre in Bayan Lepas here.

Present was Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.

Dr Mahathir said Malaysia’s rank of 19th out of 141 nations in the World Economic Forum Quality Education Index 2018 meant that the country was on the right track and recognised as one of the competitive and progressive nations in terms of education.

However, he said, there was room for improvement.

“We have to prepare our pupils to face changes as a result of new and more sophisticated technologies.

“Our education system is faced with challenges and this calls for a paradigm shift to ensure its relevance.”

He said as the country moved towards the fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), teachers must boost students’ awareness about the importance of English, science, mathematics and technology, and instil interest in the subjects. He said to ensure the education system could create skilled human resources, the government had focused on the technical and vocational, education and training (TVET).

“TVET not only contributes to the country’s development, it is also important as Malaysia moves towards IR4.0.

“TVET will be the game changer in producing skilled human resources and improving competitiveness as the engine of growth.

“As such, the Education Ministry, as the provider of TVET, must remain committed to strengthening the collaboration between industries and across TVET institutions.”

Dr Mahathir said the government would continue to uphold the teaching profession.

He, however, cautioned that the success of the education agenda depended on educators and parents.

He said the government’s commitment to ensuring that priority would be given to the education sector was proven with the allocation of RM60.2 billion, or 19.1 per cent, of the total budget this year.

At the tail-end of his speech, he appeared overcome with emotion as he wished teachers a happy Teachers Day.

“Uphold your values. Have faith that it (the teaching profession) is a noble responsibility entrusted upon you.

“I hope teachers are given the strength to continue this struggle.”

At the event, he presented the 2019 Tokoh Kepimpinan Pendidikan Kebangsaan award to former deputy director-general of education (teaching profession development sector) Datuk Asariah Mior Shaharuddin and the 2019 Tokoh Guru Kebangsaan award to Nawi Ismail, a former teacher of SM Teknik Kuala Terengganu.