Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajijii Noor chatting with some of the Petronas scholarship recipients at his office in Menara Kinabalu Aug 23
KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has urged PETRONAS scholarship recipients to take full advantage of the opportunity to expand knowledge and equip themselves with skills.
Hajiji, who took time off to meet 12 of the 107 Sabah recipients of the PETRONAS Powering Knowledge Education Sponsorship 2024, said that they were the future of the nation and should take full advantage of the scholarships to gain skills.
The 12, who were Sabah's top Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2023 achievers and among the 600 students chosen nationwide for the scholarship, met with Hajiji at his office at Menara Kinabalu here Friday (Aug 23).
"After listening to your short speeches, I am happy, and I have no doubt that all of you will have a bright future.
"Do your best, for you are the future of the state who will help drive the nation and state development," he said.
Hajiji also commended PETRONAS for its continuous support for youth academic development and for sponsoring the 107 students from Sabah to further their studies in various fields.
"I appreciate PETRONAS' commitment to develop human capital in line with the aspirations of the Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya," he said.
He said the state government prioritised human capital development and had allocated RM470mil for this purpose, which includes scholarships and study loans.
"But it is not sufficient, and that is why we get Yayasan Sabah to come in, and we also set up the Sabah Education Fund to help finance the education of our children," he said.
The Chief Minister said the Sabah government had also taken the initiative to assist Form Four and Form Five students by giving each of them a one-off assistance of RM200.
He said the state government is also providing one-off assistance for those enrolling in higher learning institutions, RM2,000 for degree courses and RM1,500 for diploma courses.
Present at the event were Sabah Education Department director Datuk Raisin Saidin and senior officials of PETRONAS.
