Malaysian government to invest RM 13.5 Billion for rural ICT

A total of RM13.5 billion is to allocated to improve school infrastructure, provide more ICT facilities and encourage more experienced teachers to serve in rural areas under a plan for greater focus on rural education, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Thursday.

The prime minister said this was to help reduce the wide gap in academic achievement between rural and urban schools.

Tabling the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2020) in the Dewan Rakyat, he said special emphasis would be given to rural schools in Sabah and Sarawak while national type Chinese and Tamil schools would continue to be given aid and upgraded.

He also said that focus would be given to pre-school education, adding that to ensure quality teaching, the government would standardise the curriculum used in pre-school so as to ensure that all pupils were able to read and count before beginning formal education at the primary level.

Abdullah said the government would also devote attention towards increasing access to tertiary education.

"Enrolment in public institutions of higher learning will increase with the completion of the permanent campuses of three new universities, namely Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia," he said.

He also said that the implementation of the UiTM (Universiti Teknologi Mara) franchise programme would also increase student enrolment and contribute towards achieving the target of 200,000 students enrolled by the year 2010.

Abdullah said technical and vocational institutes would continue to be strengthened through the implementation of the Skills Development and Training Blueprint.

"Student enrolment in the fields of technical and vocational training will also be boosted by utilising existing capacity, allocating funds for students enrolling in private training institutes, as well as increasing the funds available under the Skills Development Fund Corporation," he said.

Abdullah said that to provide support for school dropouts, the building of new GiatMara centres would be expedited, whereby 80 per cent of the enrolment at these centres would be reserved for school dropouts.

In addition, the National Dual Training System programme that emphasises practical industrial training would be made available to school dropouts.

Abdullah said that to encourage life-long learning, access to life-long learning programmes would be widened through the introduction of a more flexible enrolment process which would take work experience into account.

"To increase the involvement of industry, tax exemptions will be given to companies for expenses incurred in training their employees at diploma level in community colleges.

"Financial support in the form of monthly allowances and academic fees will also be considered for students enrolled in community colleges," he said.

Abdullah said that in line with the government's aspiration of making national schools the school of preferred choice for all races, continued efforts would be directed toward enhancing teaching quality and facilities in national schools.

He also said that among others, the teaching of Mandarin and Tamil languages in national schools would be further improved.

He said the current enrolment of Chinese and Indian students in national schools was six per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.

Abdullah said a rating system would be implemented in public institutions of higher learning as a tool to assess their quality and competitiveness.

"To enhance international recognition, more renowned experts from foreign universities, industry players and professional bodies will be appointed to sit on the assessment panel of academic programmes offered at public and private institutes of higher learning," he said.

He also said that a new Malaysian Research Institute would be established to increase cooperation in research activities with internationally renowned universities.

Efforts must be undertaken to upgrade science and technology infrastructure and the national innovation system, he said.

He said that to increase the number of researchers and inventors in the future, more scholarships would be made available at the postgraduate level.

"This will contribute towards achieving the target of 50 researchers and engineers per 10,000 members of the workforce.

"The private sector will also be encouraged to provide scholarships as well as financial aid for the purpose of R&D and technology commercialisation," he said.