KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (Mestecc) will hold more engagement sessions in rural schools as part of its effort to encourage students to take up science and technology.
Its minister, Yeo Bee Yin, said having more quality engagement on science and technology could provide more exposure and nurture students’ interest in science and technology.
“We want more students to take up science and technology, and subsequently reach a ratio of science to arts students at 60:40, as targeted by the former and present government,” she said after launching ScaleUp Malaysia.
Recently, it was reported that only 44 per cent of students were opting for the Science stream, compared with 48 per cent in 2012.
At institutions of higher learning, 570,858 students majored in Arts and Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Business and Law in 2017, compared with 334,742 who enrolled in Science, Math, Computers, Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction courses.
Yeo said the ministry would discuss existing policies in relation to science and technology with the Education Ministry.
“There are some policies that need to be changed, for example in terms of science and technology evaluation for exams.
“Apparently, science is much more difficult than art, hence why many students shy away from it.
“We would like to communicate with the Education Ministry on the matter and provide some feedback,” she said.
Meanwhile, on ScaleUp Malaysia, Yeo said it would create larger small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which could become independently successful and not be dependent on government support or projects.
ScaleUp Malaysia announced the opening of applications for their inaugural cohort of their accelerator programme, to develop the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Through the programme, ScaleUp aims to develop and train 50 ScaleUps over the next three years, with participants receiving a RM200,000 investment to scale their revenues and growth plans.
Present at the event was ScaleUp Malaysia senior partner and founder Dr Sivapalan Vivekarajah.