EDUCATION SYSTEM FOR GIFTED CHILDREN NEEDED

BANGI, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- There is a need to change the system and method of
teaching and learning for gifted children as they seem to be neglected because
more emphasis is given to special children.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the national education system
gave emphasis only to special children all this while without realising that
equal emphasis should also be given to brilliant children.

"All this while, we notice that our national education policy has classes
for normal children and a special class for children with impaired vision,
impaired hearing, children suffering from autism, down syndrome where all
aspects of impairment and weaknesses are taken into account, but we forget that
there are children with extraordinary intelligence. They are extraordinary in
terms of how they think, extraordinary in terms of how they study. They too need
a good learning method," he said in his speech at the opening of the
PERMATApintar Negara Holiday Camp, here Sunday.

Najib said it was time that an appropriate teaching and learning method for
gifted children be drawn up after they had been neglected for so long.

"The time has come for us to draw up a plan on the needs of these children.
I'm convinced that such programmes, whether kindergartens or schools for gifted
children will bring a significant change for the better in the development of
the people's resilience in future," he said.

He said the 'PERMATApintar' project was the right medium to assist gifted
children in getting a different and appropriate learning method that suited
their outstanding capability, thus creating the avenue for the nation to produce
a knowledgeable society.

"In efforts to build a glorious nation, the fundamental ingredient must be a
teaching and learning process that can churn out a knowledgeable society. We are
aware that an empire that can withstand the test of time is not one that relies
on military power, but one that is based on the power of its educated society,"
he said.

Commenting further, Najib said the project that was developed through
cooperation between the Pusat PERMATApintar Negara and National University of
Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the PERMATA Division in the
Prime Minister's Department was most suitable and appropriate in moulding the
new national economic model.

In a related development, the Prime Minister also praised the initiatives of
his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in creating the project to guide and assist
in the development of the gifted children so that they would be capable of
achieving continued excellence.

"Although she is my wife, but where credit is due, credit should be given.
She and the others are most committed and passionate in ensuring the success of
this project.

"Their meetings are longer than the Cabinet Ministers' meetings and this
shows that they are most committed in creating a change in churning out a future
generation that is highly capable," he said.

Earlier, Najib and Rosmah performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the
Kompleks PERMATApintar Negara, which would be built on an eight-hectare site
within the UKM campus, which was expected to be operational in January 2011.

-- BERNAMA