On 20th January 2010, at nine in the morning, a council session of dialogue with the Honorable Prime Minister of Education was held with the students from secondary schools and colleges all over Brunei at the PTEK Conference Room.
The guest of honour, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman Bin Dato Setia Haji Mohamed Taib, Ministry of Education, Brunei Darussalam gave the welcoming speech. It was later followed by the welcoming speech to the guest of honour and the other MOE officers by the MPP Deputy President (PTEK) , Abdul Hakam.
The session started with MPP President Jarrod Sim Cheng Jie’s remarks:
“As A-Level students heading out into the world, possessing valuable work experience can be both an advantage as well as a valuable learning experience. Wouldn’t it be a good idea then to have A-Level students participate in work attachments at various fields of work relevant to their future course choices? More choices for work attachments expanding into hospitality and business should be made known and available”
Different topics were also addressed by other students:
Community service should have more emphasis as part of the curriculum. Perhaps a student must serve a certain amount of community service as part of graduating criteria. This can help to open up the youths’ minds to real world issues.
Student Resource Centre. A place on school campus where students can get together to study in comfort and research, utilizing ICT facilities in place. Cafes on site for students to relax whilst studying with friends. A study-conducive environment where students can spend their time wisely.
It seems that bringing mobile phones to school is still an issue. Some schools had transport issues until even one of the students asked for an MRT station for students. (WOW)
Surprisingly, there are monkey problems in some areas where monkeys disturb students during school hours. So this leads to students’ lack of concentration in school.
Some school complained about the internet connection. As some are still using G system, but others are using a faster connection speed which is N1 system.
After the heated discussions, the session ended with the recital of the doa selamat. Refreshments were served for the guests as well.
We hope PTEK was a good host for this year’s dialogue session. We would also like to apologize for any inconvenience that occurred during the entire session.
