Brunei - Brighter future for Brunei youths

THE year 2011 was filled with many initiatives that were implemented and introduced to make 2012 a year to look forward to in terms of educational advancement in Brunei Darussalam.

One of the top priorities is to boost the vocational and technical sector by increasing its student enrolment.

In further solidifying this commitment, last year in September, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, through the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) under the Prime Minister's Office, awarded scholarships to 1,104 recipients to continue their education at local private institutions as part of the September 2011 intake.

The scholarship, known as the "Technical & Vocational Education Scholarship (BPTV) in Local Private Institutions" scheme was introduced under the Human Resource Development Fund under JPKE.

This new scheme provides school leavers with 'O' and 'A' level qualifications, particularly eligible students who were not given an opportunity to study in government technical and vocational institutions.

It was shown that the level with the most entries was the Pre-National Diploma (PND) or equivalent to 421 students, a group categorised as those unemployed without qualifications.

About 392 students have been awarded a High National Diploma (HND), 49 were awarded with a Higher National Certificate (HNC) and 242 awarded the National Diploma (ND).

In the same month, His Majesty in a titah during the 21st Teachers' Day this year, announced that a new higher education institution, a polytechnic, will begin operating by 2012.

The polytechnic, which will occupy a temporary campus in Block 2E, Condominium Ong Sum Ping, is expected to offer courses in the areas of Business, Finance as well as Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Meanwhile, during the 15th National Technical and Vocational Institutions Convocation, it was announced by the Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong, that a new Vocational and Technical Education and Training (VTET) system will be introduced.

Students would be able to graduate from their respective programmes faster than the existing system.

The three-tier education system would see the former National Trade Certificate (NTC) Level One and Two qualifications replaced with Skills Certificate One and Skills Certificate Two, courses that will take a duration of one year each.

This will be followed by the Diploma programme which is equivalent to the ND programme and will only take two years instead of two and half, while the HND, which also takes two and a half years, will be replaced with a two-year Advanced Diploma programme.

VTET graduates needed to contribute to the nation's economy to ensure the Sultanate's aim of being the top ten economies of the world.

Emphasising this issue was the Minister of Health Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Adanan Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Hj Mohd Yusof who was a guest of honour during the 16th Convocation for National Vocational and Technical Institutions.

"The nation needs locals who were qualified and skilled in the field of engineering, machinery, mechanical, fields related to construction and infrastructure maintenance," he said.

Projects such as the Sungai Liang Industrial Park (Spark), Pulau Muara Besar (PMB) Project and the ones carried out by the iCentre require the skills of such graduates to successfully carry out their projects, he added.

In terms of ICT advancement, the MoE also launched its e-Hijrah Strategy, Blueprint for ICT in Education for National Development in March 1, which aims to improve digital literacy among teachers and students.

The e-Hijrah is an initiative for ICT in education for national development and is currently led by the Department of ICT at MoE. It consists of many projects fitted into three development pathways Whole School ICT Development, i-Services and Foresight and Innovation.

The blueprint would provide and establish a regulatory framework as well as a guide for directing the use of ICT, according to the Acting Director of MoE's ICT Department Hj Abdul Rahim Derus.

It would put Brunei up to par with other countries who have their very own ICT masterplan, he said.

Hj Abdul Rahim added that ICT would be used as a vehicle to transform Brunei's education system in producing competitive individuals who would able to participate in a global economy.

The e-Hijrah initiative was also nominated this year by the FutureGov Awards, an international benchmark by which public sector innovation is judged uniquely celebrating agency and project success, as well as the most successful city modernisation programmes in the region, according to its website.

While the initiative did not manage to bag the award for "Connected Government Category" it nonetheless earned proud recognition from Hj Abdul Rahim, who attended the ceremony in Malaysia.

He said that although the initiative was still in its budding stages, it was still an honour to be shortlisted.

Another highlight of the initiative is the e-Hijrah Office Programme Management (OPM), a centralised database to oversee documents within the ministry which would be able to assist in policy decisions and planning, according to Pehin Dato Hj Abu Bakar.

The OPM will be able to store information and reports made by school leaders as well as officers and policymakers in the ministry. These information will then be shared internally through the database.

The minister said that this information would be used by all departments in the ministry to look into the performances of partners and students.

"Once the information is stored in the system, it could be retrieved by everybody, and the information we observe would help us out in policy-decisions and planning," he said.

School leaders and ICT teachers have also participated in endless workshops and sessions hosted by the e-Hijrah steering committee to provide further information and how it contributes to Vision 2035.

Foreign ICT specialists and even local ICT teachers gave talks on using interactive whiteboards in class for example, touching issues on the importance of bandwidth to using gadgets as a teaching tool.

The e-Hijrah team has also considered equipping students and teachers from four or five schools across Brunei with tablet devices as a pilot to gauge the effectiveness of mobile technology in enhancing classroom learning.

Brunei's very own local varsity Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) also marked a milestone this year celebrating its Silver Jubilee in October.

His Majesty, in his capacity as the Chancellor of UBD also officially launched the university's new research tech-front developed in partnership with multinational technology corporation IBM.

The UBD|IBM Centre is a research facility that studies topics such as weather, rainforests and climate change, renewable energy and crops.

Awards were also presented to outstanding academic and administration staff of the university as well as tokens of appreciation to all previous vice-chancellors for their service.

In its journey towards being in the top 50 university in Asia by 2015, UBD has established several tie-ups with other international varsities in terms of research and education exchange.

These universities include a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), South Korea, in the area of science, technology and innovation; King's College London (KCL), University of North Carolina, George Washington University (GWU) and Markfield Institute of Higher Education (MIHE).

For the first time ever UBD is also in the process of filing three international patents through its "Innovation Enterprise Office".

Although Assistant Vice Chancellor (Corporate and Administration) Dr Azman Ahmad could not disclose the details, he said that two out of the three patents were creations of UBD scientists that "may be commercialised eventually and turned into products".

Dr Azman also revealed that UBD has plans to construct a $4 to $5 million "green" alumni building which is hoped to be fully funded by its alumni.

Construction is planned to start some time in the middle of next year and hopefully be completed by 2013.

The building was expected to establish better networks with graduates and form a channel through which they could contribute back to the university.

With reports suggesting the rise in the enrolment of sixth form students, the demand for more sixth forms is inevitable.

This year saw the first ever sixth form centre in the Tutong District completed.Another sixth form centre has also been constructed in Lumut to address the Belait District's need for the facility.

It was revealed in an interview on May 27 this year by the director of Estate Management and Development for MoE, that the centre will be constructed somewhere along Jln Singa Menteri in Kuala Belait and its completion slated for 2013.

In Brunei-Muara, a fourth sixth form centre is also on schedule for January 2013 and will feature a 17-acre site with state of the art facilities including 50 classrooms, 18 science laboratories, art and design studios, lecture halls, administration block, multi-purpose hall and a library.

Finally, the 21st Teachers' Day also saw the inaugural introduction to the Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) Award to three recipients recognised for their significant contributions in education.

YAM Pengiran Indera Mahkota Pengiran Anak (Dr) Kemaludin Al-Haj ibni Al-Marhum Pengiran Bendahara Pengiran Anak Hj Mohd Yassin, former State Legislative Council Speaker, bagged the award which was received on his behalf by a representative.

Brothers Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama (Dr) Hj Jamil Al-Sufri Begawan Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Seri Paduka Hj Umar, head of the History Centre, and former education minister Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Wijaya Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Abdul Aziz Begawan Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Seri Paduka Hj Umar were also named as awardees of the prestigious honour.

Each SOAS awardee also received certificate of honour, $20,000 cash and a special souvenir.

This award was not only meant to be given to teachers, but also individuals who have contributed greatly to education.

The Brunei Times

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