Distinguished
guests,
Ladies and
gentlemen,
1. I am delighted to address you today and
to open the Pekan International Education Conference 2015. Let me first of all
extend a very warm welcome to all our speakers, panellists and participants,
some of whom have come very far to share with us their expertise and knowledge.
2. Thank you for being here with us in our
Royal Town of Pekan and for making this, the first conference in this series, a
success. My thanks also to Pekan UMNO Education Bureau, who have organised this
event in collaboration with the Pekan District Education office and the
International College of Automotive, or ICAM.
3. All three organisations have set a good
example by taking a lead in promoting transformation and excellence in
education, and I am sure that all the participants will find this a productive
and enjoyable experience.
4. The theme of the conference is
Transforming Minds: Nurturing Global Players; and the location is apt, because
PPD Pekan aspires to be the number one champion for the District Transformation
Programme, whose purpose is to drive the realisation of the Malaysia Education
Blueprint 2013-2025.
5. The aims of the Blueprint include raising
educational standards here so that our children are better prepared for the
challenges of the 21st century and for a changing, and increasingly globalised,
world. We should have confidence in Malaysia’s ability to nurture global
players, as have plenty of examples to look to.
6. Malaysians have graduated from Ivy League
universities in America, from Oxford, Cambridge, and the London School of
Economics in the UK, the Sorbonne in Paris, and many other top flight
universities around the world including Melbourne, Queensland, Toronto and
Tokyo.
7. Our students compete internationally –
and win. In the World Robot Olympiad in 2012, the Malaysian team won nine
medals and took first place for the third time. A 17-year-old Malaysian was the
champion of the English Speaking Union International Public Speaking Award that
same year. More recently, a Malaysian was part of the team that won a NASA
competition to design vehicles for Mars.
8. In order to build on these successes, and
for us to produce more global players, every student needs to be educated in six
key attributes: knowledge; thinking skills; leadership; bilingual proficiency;
good ethics and spirituality; and a strong sense of national identity.
9. So may I congratulate the organisers for
arranging four keynote speakers whose expertise is entirely relevant to this
theme. Professor Lee Sing Kong from Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore, where he is Vice President. Professor Philip Hallinger from the
University of Chulalongkorn – an internationally recognised innovator in
leadership development.
10. Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Nik Safiah
Karim from University of Malaya – one of our most distinguished and experienced
academics. And Professor Garry James Clayton from ICAM Pekan, a man whose
expertise ranges from business, to sustainability and even to military studies.
11. Their contributions, and the 40 working
paper presentations that I understand are also part of the conference, will do
much to enlighten the participants and stimulate debate about how to put into
action the eleven shifts to transform our system that are at the heart of our
education blueprint.
12. Conducting this conference in English in
itself contributes to Shift 2, which is to ensure that every child is
proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English. As we all know, in the global
context, mastery of the English Language is the passport to relevance and
competitiveness.
13. The conference also directly addresses
Shift 5, which is ensuring there are high-performing leaders in every school,
and supports Shift 4 – transforming teaching into the profession of choice.
14. I would like to emphasise the last point,
as good teachers are the bedrock of any system. The quality of school teachers
is one of the biggest factors in determining student outcomes, and as such,
teachers are principle agents of transformation in our education system.
15. Education today is not just about the
accumulation of knowledge. It is also about lighting a fire - a burning desire
to never stop learning. So teachers must not be overly bound by past norms and
traditions. Instead they should be open to new ideas.
16. Interactive,
cooperative and collaborative learning. High Order Thinking Skills, or HOTS,
which I know is one of the sub-themes you will be discussing. Strengthening
STEM education, and encouraging the learning of a third language, as well as
Bahasa and English.
17. Improving
extra-curricular activities, so that all students participate in one sport, one
club and one uniformed body – as these are opportunities for students to
develop their individual talents and their capacity for teamwork outside the
formal classroom setting.
Ladies and gentlemen,
18. The
participation of teachers and school leaders in educational conferences such as
this is instrumental in making an impact, and the versatility, attitude and
outlook you display to your students will have a profound effect on their
experiences at school, and hence on the Malaysian leaders and nation-builders
of tomorrow.
19. My
government takes education very seriously. As part of Malaysia’s
transformation, as a driver towards achieving our goal of becoming a
high-income status nation by 2020, and as an end in itself that enriches all of
our young people, the provision of an excellent education is one of our
greatest responsibilities, both to current and to future generations.
20. This
is why in Budget 2015 we allocated RM56 billion to the Ministry of Education.
We are taking steps to strengthen schools that require guidance and special
assistance, increasing places for technical and vocational students, raising
entry requirements for public institutions of higher learning, building new
schools, and supporting programmes to enhance graduate employability.
21. In
addition, we are keen to support life-long learning, and those who wish to further
their studies while in employment, and we have set a target of producing 60,000
PhD holders here in Malaysia within the next few years.
22. The
targets we have set ourselves are ambitious, but we are confident in our
ability to achieve them. And all of you here at the first Pekan International
Education Conference are contributing to the transformation programme we have
set out, and are playing your part in unlocking the potential of young
Malaysians to become global players, and ambassadors for our country and our
culture.
23. My
thanks again to all the organisers and to all the participants for coming here
to Pekan. I wish you great success over this weekend, and hereby declare the
conference open.
Thank you.
Dato' Sri Dr Khair bin
Mohamad Yusof
Director General,
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education
Representing the Prime
Minister of Malaysia
Dato Sri’ Mohd Najib bin Abdul
Razak