Monday June 25, 2012

International participants join locals in three-week Permatapintar programme

BANGI: The Permatapintar programme marked another milestone by organising an All-Girls Summer Camp participated by Saudi Arabian and Indonesian students at its centre in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia here.

In the three-week programme which begins today, 20 students from the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) Saudi Arabia will join 30 Malaysian and two Indonesian students.

They will take part in three courses: Probability and Game Theory, Cryptology and Biotechnology.

The Prime Minister's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who is also the patron of the Permatapintar programme, said the collaboration would have a positive impact on gifted students from different countries,

Happy faces: Rosmah sharing a light moment with Mawhiba students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia yesterday. — Bernama

“We will also provide these students with an all-encompassing experience, which includes exposure to Malaysia's heritage and culture, sports, academic visits, spiritual discussions and not forgetting, exploring the beauty of Malaysia's sights and scenes.”

Opening the camp here yesterday, Rosmah expressed hope it would be the beginning of further collaboration between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia in promoting gifted education.

The Permatapintar organised its first annual enrichment programme in 2009 called School Holiday Camp, which was developed in collabora-tion with Johns Hopkins University Centre for Talented Youth.

It offers grade-level courses to gifted children between the ages of nine and 15, and more than 1,500 students from Malaysia and other countries, including Singapore, Brunei, Oman and India have taken part.

The Permatapintar High School programme began in January last year, with the first intake of 128 gifted students who were offered courses in Linear Algebra, Calculus, French and Japanese.

Meanwhile, Mawhiba deputy secretary-general (Assistant for Female Affairs) Dr Amal Al-Hazzaa said they were very excited to start the programme and hoped the collaboration would be continued. - Bernama

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