Friday April 17, 2009
Zambian First Lady wants to adopt Malaysian childhood plan
KUALA LUMPUR: The First Lady of Zambia, Thandiwe Banda, is very impressed with the early childhood programme being promoted in Malaysia and hopes that it can be adopted in her country.
“I think it is a very good programme and I commend the Malaysian Government for introducing it,” Banda told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the three-day Malaysian international early childcare and education conference which began on Tuesday.
The mother of seven, who turned up wearing Malaysian batik, said that women in her country were encouraged to pursue their studies in order to be independent and capable of looking after themselves as well as be good mothers.
She said that although early education for children was compulsory in Zambia, these centres were mostly found in towns and cities.
“But most of our woman live in rural areas so we need to introduce it there,” she said, adding that the government provided free schooling for children.
How do I look?: Rosmah with Banda, who is trying on a Terengganu songket shawl during their meeting in Putrajaya. Executive director for the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) in Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Dr Lea Ybarra, said 15 intellectually-gifted Malaysian children had so far been enrolled there by their parents due to a lack of opportunity to develop the students’ abilities in Malaysia.
With the setting up of a scheme for gifted children at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), in cooperation with CTY as part of the National Permata Pintar programme, however, Dr Ybarra said Malaysian students could now reach their highest potential.
“These smart children lose out when their talent is not spotted. They are your scientists, engineers and intellectual leaders,” she said, adding that the courses could be held in a combination of English and Bahasa Malaysia.
The programme is currently conducting a talent search for those between nine and 15 years through an online IQ test at www.permatapintar.com.my. Those who pass will be accepted into the pilot programme that will begin with a two-week camp at UKM in December.
Related stories:
Youths told to be confident
Ministry to help develop Permata Pintar programme
News Poll
- Man posted doctored photos of Nik Aziz
- Heartbreaking wait for mum
- The world just got bigger
- Opposition leaders decry court’s ruling
- 5-0 for BN’s Zambry
- Thumbs-up for Najib
- Saiful files report over death threat
- Sodomy II: Live Updates
- WWF: Orang asli being used
- Fleet card cloning ring busted with arrest of trio
- 60 lose RM25mil in gold investment scam
- Canberra to set new skills list
- Fleet card cloning ring busted with arrest of trio
- Toyota puts the brakes on problem
- Manila joins hunt for Semporna gunmen
- MAS offers CNY bargains
- Man posted doctored photos of Nik Aziz
- WWF: Orang asli being used
- PM to share CNY joy with folk of Kg Pandamaran
- Kek Lok Si all lit up to welcome Year of the Tiger
RSS
