KUCHING: School leavers and working adults who wish to further their studies will not be left in the dark on the various information and financial assistance available for them. These two problems can easily be overcome or solved by visiting the Borneo Post International Education Fair (BPIEF) that ends tomorrow.
BPIEF 2010 OPEN: Fatimah (fourth left), assisted by Leong (obscured), puts a mortar board on the BPIEF 2010 logo to open the fair. From left are Wong, Morshidi, Dorge, Adenan and Elajsolan.
"The Sarawak School Leavers Council, Chief Minister's Department had discovered these to be the main constraints students faced in their quest for tertiary education locally and abroad," said the fair's patron Datin Fatimah Abdullah at the opening yesterday.
Fatimah, who is the newly appointed Minister in the Chief Minister's Department, added that the inaugural fair would provide opportunities for students to get relevant information on what courses to take up based on the results of their exams as well as financial assistance available to them.
The fair, jointly organised by The Borneo Post and Borneo International Expo Sdn Bhd is on from yesterday to Sunday at the Permata Exhibition Hall from 10am to 8.30pm on all days.
The fair brought together 70 exhibitors from within Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Japan, the People's Republic of China, Britain, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America under one roof.
"The exhibitors will showcase the myriad courses they offer as well as provide vital information that will help students and even working adults make wise and informed decisions," said Fatimah.
Apart from that, there were also educational and informative talks on Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) yesterday.
Both students and working adults who attended the talk would be aware of the needs of the industries especially SCORE, which is expected to create about 1.5 million jobs in various fields as it lifts the state in a quantum leap in economic status through waves of development in the coming decade.
"It is thus essential that we must maximise our state's human resources to fulfill the human capital needs of Score's various development projects," said Fatimah.
She added that it was the state's hope that at least 80 per cent of the school leavers would further their studies at the tertiary level or go for skills training.
She pointed out that this would be a confidence booster that the state's future would be bright, as the people would be better educated or well-skilled and capable to helm positions in every industry.
Fatimah hoped that more education fairs would be continuously held for the benefit of students and more exhibitors will come to educate and inform the public here on the various education opportunities available in their respective institutions and countries and the available financial assistance provided especially for the needy.
Meanwhile, BPIEF advisor Phyllis Wong said that The Borneo Post was committed to making BPIEF an annual affair as part of the company's corporate social responsibility programme in helping students going for further education.
"BPIEF for year 2011 and beyond are all in our agendas, not only in Sarawak, but in Sabah too. With all the 70 institutions on board with the Borneo Post, we are ready to take off to even other towns in Sarawak and Sabah to benefit the students and parents of other towns," said Wong.
Also present were BIE managing director Michael Leong, BIE event production manager Alan Poon, BPIEF organising chairman Dorge Rajah, See Hua Marketing Kuching Area manager Wong Sing Seng, State Secretary Datuk Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Yayasan Sarawak chairman Datuk Amar Adenan Satem and National Association of Private Educational Institutions president Associate Professor Elajsolan Mohan.
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