ID :
38672
Sat, 01/03/2009 - 16:29
Auther :

SCHOOLS NEED TO BE UPGRADED TO RESIDENTIAL STATUS - DPM

PEKAN (Malaysia), Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minsiter Najib Razak said
the normal secondary schools should be upgraded so that they would have similar
features like fully residential schools to enable more students to benefit from
better quality education at the secondary level.

Najib said that in view of the limited places available at residential
schools and the increasing number of students achieving excellent results, the
facilities at the existing secondary schools should be upgraded so that they
would have similar features like the fully residential schools.

Najib told reporters after presenting awards to 393 students, who achieved
outstanding results in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), which is a
local examination for primary pupils, for the Pekan parliamentary constituency,
that a normal secondary school would have certain facilities upgraded similar to
that of the residential schools.

"It is now up to the Education Ministry to look at other schools which are
similar to Sekolah Menengah Seri Pekan so that they can be upgraded like the
residential schools in terms of infrastructure, credible teachers, student
enrolment policy, hostel facilities and so on," he said.

In another development, Najib said the government was still optimistic about
achieving the Vision 2020 objective.

"The government is still optimistic and hopes that everyone will play their
role according to their capability to realise Vision 2020," he said.

He pointed out that four main factors contributed to the country's
development namely land, infrastructure, capital and manpower.

"The government believes that human capital is the key factor in determining
our success and this involves various levels, macro and micro, including the
efforts of the family institution to create human capital of credibility," he
said.

Asked whether the effects of the global economic crisis could affect the
achievement of the Vision 2020 target, Najib said: "Of course, in our
efforts to achieve this goal, we believe there will be more challenges ahead of
us.

"In order to achieve the Vision 2020 target, we need to have an annual
growth of six per cent, but the adverse effects of the global economic recession
could hamper our growth rate for one or two years but when the economy
recovers, we are confident of achieving the six per cent growth," he added.
-- BERNAMA


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