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Business forum permanent feature in future dialogues

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 10:40 PM PDT

Business forum permanent feature in future dialogues

Announcing new initiatives and measures to further enhance the dialogue, which began in 1995, and the smart partnership movement, he said the forum would
include small-and-medium enterprises and business franchise opportunities between Malaysia, Africa and the Caribbean.

PUTRAJAYA: The business forum will be a permanent feature of the smart partnership dialogue which will be held biennially, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said at the end of the Ninth Langkawi International Dialogue here today.

The next dialogue, the Southern Africa International Dialogue (SAID) will be hosted by Tanzania, he announced in an "Outcome Document" at the closing ceremony of the three-day LID attended by leaders, ministers and officials from 14 African and Caribbean countries including Malaysia.

Najib said steps would be taken to promote technology-driven smart partnership cooperation to address socio-economic disparity and increase productivity and income.

Besides this, leaders agreed there would be initiatives to enhance and facilitate specialisation and internalisation of research and development within governments to nurture knowledge and innovation-based economies.

Leaders attending LID2011, held for the first time in Putrajaya, also agreed there was need for smart partnerships to progress towards ensuring good governance and effective administration.

This was to preserve social cohesion and achieve socio-economic growth and political stability, the Prime Minister said.

He also said leaders agreed for the dialogue to be held biennially so as to allow more time for participating countries to implement initiatives and plan for future prospects. -- BERNAMA

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Business forum permanent feature in future dialogues

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Teachers make ‘Interlok’ changes manually

Posted: 20 Jun 2011 05:02 PM PDT

2011/06/21
Maizatul Ranai and Predeep Nambiar
news@nst.com.my

A list of amendments to be made to the controversial Interlok textbook following a directive from the Education Ministry.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has initiated cost-cutting measures to amend certain words and phrases in the Interlok textbook.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said the process was being done manually by teachers instead of reprinting the book.

He said only nine pages in the book were affected and it would not be a burden on the teachers.

Interlok, by national laureate Datuk Abdullah Hussein, is the text literature for Form Five students. Only schools in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negri Sembilan are affected.

The books were recalled from the students last week to allow for the amendments to be made.

Puad said adhesive cut-outs, supplied by the ministry to the schools, were being used to make the amendments.

"The amendments are made to the words and phrases that have been identified.

It is easier this way.

"Reprinting the book will incur wastage as we are not changing the whole book, only the parts affected." The New Straits Timeswas made aware of this when a reader called to say that teachers were required to make amendments to the textbook manually.

She said last Saturday, a school had recalled several of its teachers to carry out the task.

Puad said it should not be too much for the teachers to handle, adding that it was part of a teacher's responsibility and did not require hard labour.

"There are usually five classes of fifth formers in a school. This totals about 200 to 250 books." Puad also said representatives from the textbook division would be monitoring the amendments to be made.

Among thewords and phrases replaced are "kasta pariah" (pariah caste) with "go - longan yang sama" (the same group) and "tuhan" (god) replaced with "d e wa " (de - ity).

National Union of the Teaching Profession president Hashim Adnan said it should not be a problem for teachers because it was their responsibility.

"If teachers don't do it, who else will? The books have already been sent out to the schools. Logistic costs will be higher if the books are sent back to the publisher s." However, National Parent-Teacher Association president Datuk Mohd Ali Hassan said it was a hassle because teachers had to devote extra time for the job when they should be doing other academic-related work.

"It should be done by the publisher and not the teachers.

"On the whole, it will be better if the book is reprinted as it is a national literature book." Parent Action Group for Education chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim concurred and said the job was not within a teacher's scope of duties.

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Isnin, 20 Jun 2011