GENIUS@Pintar Negara UKM To Go International

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- The GENIUS @ Pintar Negara, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) intends to establish an international school for smart and talented students, in the next three or four years. Its director, Associate Prof Dr Rorlinda Yusof, said that there was demand from foreign countries such as Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asian countries who expressed interest in the smart and talented education programme introduced by the centre for the past 10 years. “The process has already begun, especially in terms of curriculum. Currently, we are in the process of gaining international recognition for a national curriculum for smart students nationwide. “The establishment of this school will also put smart and talented education programmes in this country on an international level,” she told Bernama. To achieve that goal, she said that the centre will work with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to make this smart and talented education programme a national curriculum specifically designed for smart children “This is because the curriculum for these smart children is different as it is designed to meet the cognitive needs of those we have identified. This curriculum has been tried at the university level and has been successfully applied to this day so it can be shared with the MOE,” she said. On that basis, she said that the centre would conduct training for teachers together with the Teacher Education Division (BPG) and Institutes of Teacher Education (IPG) to teach smart and talented students in the national education system. She explained that a smart school will be opened and placed under the management of a new boarding school in Pendang, Kedah through the ‘Pintar Cerdas’ programme, next year. “Currently, we are carrying out the process of selecting students and training for teachers who will be placed there later," she said. Meanwhile, Rorlinda hopes that all alumni of the GENIUS @ Pintar Negara Centre, UKM will contribute their expertise to the country as well as be a model for the new students. "More than 1,400 smart students have graduated since 2011 and furthered their studies across the world and 79 per cent of them are already in the job market,” she said, adding that the centre plans to hold conferences for alumni. It also intends to hold conferences with leadership from various smart institutions from all over the world to exchange views and ideas. -- BERNAMA