Research important to innovation in education
Published on: Thursday, October 17, 2019
By: Johan Aziz
KENINGAU: Don’t be afraid of change said the Director-General of the Ministry of Education Datuk Dr Amin Senin.
He said the teaching fraternity may lose something good but they would gain something even better.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said when educators have the desire to get something started they will then have the courage and ability to solve it.
“These words are motivational words that can serve as a catalyst for educators to continue their research and can lead to innovations especially related to education,” he said at the opening of Sabah Zone Education Research Seminar (SPeZS 2019) at Keningau Campus Teacher Education Institute (IPG).
The text of his speech was read by Deputy Director of IPG Keningau, Jais Siarus.
Dr Amin said research seminars indirectly support and cultivate the practice of research development, innovation, publishing and translation as what famous astronaut Neil Armstrong said that “Research is creating new knowledge”.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said this highlighted the importance of research and seminars that was organised by the four Sabah IPGs namely, IPG Gaya Kota Kinabalu, IPG Kent Tuaran, IPG Tawau and IPG Keningau.
The seminar, he said is an opportunity to discuss issues and phenomena related to development of education as well as an opportunity to highlight the importance of research outcomes.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This is in line with the objectives of this seminar, which is to provide a platform to share knowledge, skills and experience through the presentation of research findings.
“The public know and acknowledged that research is the key to the development and development of human civilisation.
“The exploration and the results of the research could highlight the realities of the situation and help in the clarification of various issues.
“The need to strengthen research especially in the new millennium-based research is increasing in responses to current challenges. National development issues are closely related to human capital development which needs to be addressed as the younger generation is the ‘face of the nation’ in the future,” he said.
Dr Amin said Malaysia is not exception to changes to the and complex shifts of globalisation, economic liberalisation and the development of information and communications technology.
He said the changes brought about by the evolution of the country’s education - a more open education system and broader learning infrastructure impacted the landscape of the people’s thinking and thus contributes to new values and culture.
But this phenomenon, he said, presents new challenges to the educators especially IPG lecturers who play a role in educating teachers before diving into the real world of the country education system.
“One of the key dominant challenges that we face is the high expectations of the people.
“Thus, research needs to become a culture to uplift the education system. As educators we need to be brave in researching and creating something new and useful to solve any problem,” he said.
In this regard, he said, educators need to become a pulse and backbone to make research a practice.
He said, as an institution moving on the foundation of IPG’s vision, ‘Leading Teacher Education Excellence’, lecturers and researchers must make product development-oriented thinking to produce models based on teaching and learning theories.
Dr Amin said this was a challenge that had to be dealt with wisely to ensure that the quality of IPG research and innovation are recognised and comparable to other institutions in the country and abroad.
He called on all educators to be bold in their research as this would help to enhance the educational status of the country.
“I hope the programme will achieve its goals and provide a positive impact on all educators,” he said.
The two-day seminar saw 200 participants taking part.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
Also present were Kota Kinabalu IPG Gaya Director, Geturude Jock, IPG Tawau Director, Dr Hajah Rosmawati Hamzah and IPG Kent Deputy Director, Doti Asing.