Sibu District Education officer Ahli Chikba (second from left) presenting a souvenir to Aminuddin during the visit.
School parent-teacher associations can apply to receive government funding to organise science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) camps.
Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) secretary-general Datuk Dr Aminuddin Hassim said the initiative aimed to expose students to STEM.
He said that unlike the larger-scale Kembara Sains Borneo (KSB) 2024 programme which involved several locations, STEM camps were tailored to the school’s needs.
“The ministry can identify which programmes are most suitable for students at a particular school, based on the proposal submitted.
“This is more tailored because we believe that teachers and parents know the preferences and strengths of their students.
“They can come up with a proposal for Mosti to allocate funding to organise a STEM camp at their school,” he told reporters after visiting the KSB programme at SMK Deshon in Sibu, Sarawak.
Aminuddin said more could be achieved through STEM camps, which usually ran for two or three days, compared to shorter programmes.
“Mosti also has various other initiatives to foster students’ interest in STEM.
“For example, we have National Science Week, conducted both online and in-person, which reached 600,000 participants last year.
“We also have the SainTech4U programme and events such as Malaysia Techlympics.
“We held them in Sabah and Sarawak as well as the northern and southern zones of peninsular Malaysia.
“Last year, we had participation from over 2.2 million students,” he said.
KSB is organised by National Science Centre (NSC) under Mosti’s Scitech4U initiative to engage students and rural communities in Sabah and Sarawak.
The uniqueness of KSB lies in its tour format, utilising NSC’s “PSN Trooperz on the Move” science exhibition bus which travelled through 10 districts in Sabah and five districts in Sarawak, covering 22 schools.
