EMBRACE ICT TO IMPROVE STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN THE REGION - MUHYIDDIN

Taken from... http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/bnm/20110126/tts-muhyiddin-ict-with-pix-993ba14.html

Bernama - Wednesday, January 26

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Jan 26 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin wants the Information Communication Technology (ICT) to be exploited to improve the standard of teaching and quality of education in the region.

Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said principals can play a critical role in utilising the ICT by not only becoming a leader but rather an individual who encouraged continuous innovation and improvement.

"The time has certainly come for us to re-conceptualize the role of the principal in managing schools as learning organizations in the true sense of the word.

"The school can no longer be the repository and implementer of archaic decisions, but an organization that continuously promotes revisitations of the past to make the present more perfect and relevant," he said when delivering the keynote address at the 5th roundtable meeting of Asean Educational Leaders and 3rd conference of South East Asian School Principals Forum, here today.

The events were held in conjunction with the 46th Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Council Conference (SEAMEC) and 6th Asean Education Ministers Meeting (ASED).

Muhyiddin said sustaining schools as learning organizations was the key to promoting educational innovation.
"In the new information age, it is very pertinent for school principals to embrace information communication technology as an enabler of learning and a precursor to innovation," he said.

For a start, he said as implementers and translators of policies, principals had to resolve top-down and bottom-up dilemmas in making systemic change and could not expect to implement change if no attempts were made to understand the context of change and make changes to what matters to effect change.

Sharing the Malaysian experience, he said that the Education Minister had launched several initiatives to improve the education standard. "We have developed clusters of excellent schools under the High Performing School Program where school leaders are encouraged to share best practices in order to enhance student learning. This program has shown positive outcome," he said.

He said 20 schools obtained high performing status last year and many more would meet the benchmark this year including those from remote areas.

"We have also embarked on the School Improvement Program to accelerate school transformation on a wider scale," he said adding that since its implementation last year, 40 per cent of schools had demonstrated marked improvements in student performance.
-- BERNAMA

jd... mahirkan diri dgn ict yg boleh meningkatkan keberkesanan p&p kita... selain drpd utk seronok2, gunakan ict utk tingkatkan kemahiran berfikir... secara langsung akan memberikan kebaikan & keuntungan kpd anak2 murid...