KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — All schools affected by the recent floods will begin their new session next year as scheduled, Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said today.
He said the ministry had not received any application from these schools to postpone the start of the new school year.
“Furthermore, we still have two more weeks (of the school holidays) to go before schools reopen. We are convinced that they can iron out their flood-related shortcomings by then,” he said.
Idris spoke at a news conference after opening the MYEULINK Conference — Graduate Employability and the Role of Higher Education — Opportunities and Challenges in the 21st Century: Malaysian and European Perspectives, here.
The 2014 school session in Kelantan and Terengganu is scheduled to begin on January 1 (Wednesday) and in Pahang, the following day.
Idris said the ministry would send the new textbooks to these schools as soon as possible so that studies would not be disrupted. Other aid would be supervised by the schools.
“Floods are a catastrophe. As such, the schools are allowed to place orders as soon as possible without having to wait for approval. They can inform us (the ministry) later,” he said.
Idris said the ministry was awaiting the reports from the schools on the extent of the damage caused by the floods which struck on December 2.
On the conference, the minister said that overall 80 per cent of graduates and 90 per cent of students in the technical stream in Malaysia obtained jobs within six months of graduation.
“Our challenge is not only employability but how we prepare students who can adapt and acquire skills and exposure to ensure that they can work in various emerging disciplines with the intensive growth of technology,” he said.
Idris said it was important for all institutions of higher learning to ensure that their teaching manpower were not only qualified but also had industrial experience so that they understood the actual job situation.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation to Malaysia Luc Vandebon said the economic crisis in Europe had not wiped out their academic heritage nor destroyed their wealth in scholastic traditions.
“In fact, the crisis has provided an opportunity to bring about change, such as the Youth Employment Package programme, which was agreed in April, that focuses on the transition between school and work through youth guarantee schemes.
“The aim of these schemes is to ensure that within four months of leaving school or losing a job, under 25-year-olds receive either an offer of employment, a traineeship or the possibility of continuing education,” he said.
More than 200 participants attended the one-day conference where Malaysian and European speakers from academia and industry discussed the challenges of graduate employability and considered recommendations for the future.
MYEULINK was launched on March 30, 2010, funded by the European Nation (EU) with support from Malaysian Ministry of Education, and is designed to promote awareness of the EU and its key policies among Malaysian academics and government officials and other interest groups. — Bernama
