Children of Gowrie Victoria having a conversation with Fatimah, followed by presentation of a gift made by them to her. Fatimah in turn presented each of them with a wrist band made of Sarawak beads.

KUCHING: Sarawak is keen to learn and benchmark best practices from the Australian state of Victoria in the areas of early childhood education, women empowerment, women welfare and human services.

This was expressed by Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah to sum up the week-long official study visit to Victoria recently, when speaking at a gathering hosted by Australia Malaysia Business Council (AMBC) in Melbourne.

AMBC president Mr Joe Perri, in his welcoming speech, said that he welcomed Fatimah and delegation to Victoria, and he told them Australia has a lot to offer and he encouraged Malaysia, including Sarawak, to seek expertise support and links to advance its programmes.

Fatimah was leading a 15-member delegation on a week-long official study visit. They held meetings and dialogues with Victoria government officials as Sarawak intends to emulate the best practices in its own programme.

Fatimah and her delegation also visited an Australian government funded pre-school called Gowrie Victori, Eltham East Primary School, Women’s Domestic Violence Crisis Service of Victoria (WDVCS) and InTouch, the Multicultural Centre against Family Violence.

During one of the meetings, Department of Education and Early Childhood (DEECD) Victoria secretary Richard Bolt shared with the Sarawak delegation on Victoria’s Early Years Strategic Plans which focus on well-being, support and early learning strategies for children from pregnancy to 8 years old.

Bolt also expressed Victoria’s interest to work with Sarawak on early childhood and educational development.

Fatimah conveyed to Bolt on Sarawak’s wish to establish good links with Victoria’s school via networking or sister school program. This is well received by Bolt who stated that Victoria is keen to expand its sister school program into Sarawak.

The 15-strong delegation accompanying Fatimah includes Assistant Minister of Early Childhood Education Rosey Yunus, Assistant Minister of Welfare Robert Lawson Chuat, Permanent Secretary to Ministry in Welfare, Women and Family Development Rodziah Morshidi, Director of Islamic Education Bureau Datu Haji Adi Badiozaman Tuah and Australian Business Centre director Rodger Chan.