KUALA LUMPUR: Apart from solving issues related to the shortage of teachers, the special one-off recruitment by the Education Ministry last year is also aimed at bridging the divide in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) between rural and urban students.
Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin told the Dewan Negara that having sufficient teachers who are trained to teach the subjects is among important factors to ensure students in the rural areas are not left behind in STEM education.
"The most important aspect is to ensure there are sufficient teachers in schools, be it in urban and rural areas, and that these teachers are trained.
"Among the measures implemented by the ministry to ensure all schools have sufficient teachers including those teaching STEM subjects is by rolling out the special one-off recruitment involving 18,702 people," he said.
Radzi was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Husain Awang who asked if there is a special initiative introduced by the ministry to ensure rural students are not left behind in STEM education.
"Before I joined the ministry (appointed as the senior education minister), the divide related to the shortage of teachers was very wide.
"Schools especially those located in the rural areas were extremely affected following the shortage of teachers," he said.
It was reported that the Education Service Commission (SPP) had recruited 13,770 teachers under the special one-off recruitment initiative.
From the total, a total 13,255 of the successful candidates had been posted to their respective schools as of Monday with the remaining slated to join the service from April 11.
Apart from ensuring sufficient teachers, Radzi said the ministry will provide adequate training to them.
"This is to ensure the teachers can educate their students in the context of STEM," he said.
Other than that, the ministry is also focusing on ensuring the necessary infrastructure to support STEM education.
"That is why the ministry is also emphasising on preparing the necessary infrastructure to ensure children attending schools in the rural areas have access to the best infrastructure in the context of STEM education," he said.