Manyin (second left) looks on as Kadim (left) exchanges agreement documents with a representative from University of Kracheh, Cambodia.

KUCHING: Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong believes achievements in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Sarawak and other states in Malaysia can be higher if such subjects are introduced early to the students.

He said that based on his study visits to other countries with high STEM achievement, the children there are exposed to such subjects during their formative years.

“STEM cannot start at Form One. It has to start at formative years, from Primary One to Primary Six. Other subjects such as history, geography and economics can start later,” he said when officiating the welcoming dinner for the International Unimas STEM Engineering Conference (EnCon 2018) at a leading hotel here on Wednesday night.

Manyin nonetheless acknowledged that STEM achievement in Sarawak had increased to 23.3 per cent from 19.7 per cent last year.

Despite this, he said Sarawak still needs to work very hard to increase STEM achievement as the state needs to leapfrog from Industrial 2.0 to Industrial 4.0.

He therefore suggested the task of promoting STEM should not be left alone to the teachers and policy makers, but must also involve the parents.

“Based on a study, 80 per cent of jobs available will be science and technological-based in the next five to 10 years. However, we cannot fill the jobs if majority of our younger generation graduate in social sciences.

“Therefore, parents must also be involved in promoting STEM. What I found when I visited Finland last May, the country has one of the best education models in the world but what was unique was they have total engagement with the parents.

“If we want to promote STEM, parents must be told and be engaged and create certain amount of interest among their children,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, EnCon 2018 chairman Prof Dr Andrew Ragai Henry Rigit said three workshops were organised concurrently to promote STEM in Sarawak schools.

The workshops were on smart building, waste management and STEM education. Also held were an innovative school-based science, technological and engineering exhibition and competition (iSTEEX 2018).

“We have a record 38 teams participating in the competition, and six exhibitors promoting their products,” he said.

On EnCon 2018, he said it was the 11th one so far. This time, it was co-organised by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) with the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Sarawak branch and the Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) Sarawak branch.

There were more than 90 papers presented from United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Brunei and Malaysia.

The dinner also saw six agreements between Faculty of Engineering, Unimas and its counterparts being exchanged, in addition to the six exchanged during the opening ceremony officiated by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg on Wednesday.

Also present were Unimas vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, National STEM Movement chairman Prof Datuk Dr Noraini Idris and Malaysian Research and Innovation Society (MyRIS) president Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Kamarudin Hussin.