Early career guidance programmes proposed for Sarawak students in Form 5, 6

Abdullah responds to a question posed by one of the reporters. — Photo by Mohd Faisal Ahmad.

KUCHING (Oct 29): Early career guidance programmes for Form 5 and Form 6 students should be carried out to help align their education choices with Sarawak’s future manpower needs.

According to Deputy Minister in Premier’s Department (Corporate Affairs, Information and Sarawak Public Communications Unit [Ukas]) Datuk Abdullah Saidol, such initiative can help ensure that Sarawakian students would be better informed when selecting tertiary education programmes that should match state’s development direction and job opportunities.

“This can help ensure that Sarawak’s human capital needs can be met through such programmes.

“Especially under the banner of digital economy, which covers many sectors, we need more experts in digital fields, including IT (information technology).

“Another important area is renewable energy – we need engineers and other professionals who are skilled in the technical and industrial aspects of this sector.

“There are also many other initiatives; for example, the Premier recently mentioned chip manufacturing, as well as the newly-established AI (artificial intelligence) institute, so we’ll need many AI experts as well.

“Hopefully, all these roles could be filled by Sarawakians themselves,” he told reporters when met after attending the closing ceremony for the ‘Current Issues Awareness and Clarification Programme’ at Dewan Hikmah here yesterday.

Adding on, Abdullah stressed that the guidance should start as early as Form 5, as many students might choose courses without considering Sarawak’s priority sectors, such as digital economy, renewable energy and new technologies.

He also observed that while many Sarawakians pursued higher education, some were still struggling to find jobs in the state because their qualifications did not match industry needs.

“Many students told me that they studied a particular course and got jobs in Peninsular Malaysia, but upon wanting to return to Sarawak, there were no opportunities in that field.”

Abdullah also suggested setting up a special institute or programme for Form 6 students, as the education level and learning methods would be different from those in the regular secondary schools.

“We should give special attention to Form 6 students so they are better prepared for university life and be more mature in planning their career paths,” he said, adding that the proposal could be carried out through cooperation between the state government, the Education Ministry, and Yayasan Sarawak.

“There aren’t that many Form 6 students in Sarawak, but of course, this is a very important initiative, especially as next year we’ll be introducing free education in state-owned universities.

“So hopefully, students would choose courses that could truly meet Sarawak’s employment demands.”

Abdullah added that the effort would also support sectors such as telecommunications and media, where digital and AI-related skills were in high demand.

“We want more media professionals who are highly skilled, not just in standard journalism, but also in using digital tools and AI technologies,” he added.