Overwhelming response to Bible Knowledge course
Published on: Sunday, March 26, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The Upko-initiated Bible Knowledge course received an overwhelming response with nearly 100 teachers from more than 30 schools attending it on Saturday.Officiating the inaugural programme at the SM All Saints library, here, Upko Acting President Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau was heartened to note the encouraging response from the teaching fraternity.Tangau, who is also Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, was confident that the enthusiasm shown by the teachers would further boost efforts to ensure more students take up Bible Knowledge as an elective subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
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Bible Knowledge was introduced as an elective subject following unrelenting work by Upko, especially former president and Malaysia's current Ambassador to the Vatican, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, to push for it following a new policy that reduced the number of subjects a student can sit in the SPM from a maximum of 17 to 10 in 2010.Representatives from MIC and MCA had appealed to the Government for Bahasa Tamil and Mandarin to be included as an elective subject, while Dompok, who was a Federal Cabinet member, requested for the Bible Knowledge subject to be given similar status."We knew the challenges when the Government gave the nod... so Tan Sri Bernard said Upko will do its part and he offered to provide the textbooks," he said.He said now it was also a challenge to increase the number of students taking up the subject particularly in Sabah.
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As for the allowance for the teachers, Tangau suggested that the schools set up a fund similar to the one he launched in SM St James, Tenghilan, recently.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Also on hand was Upko religious and racial harmony co-chairman, Sualim Gopog.
