A MEMORANDUM of Understanding between the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) and the Department of Technical Education (DTE) under the Ministry of Education is in the pipeline to assist vocational students in finding employment in the field of agriculture.
This was mentioned by Abuzar Hj Mohd Tahir, a Human Resource Management official from the agricultural unit, during His Majesty's visit to the Wasan Padi field yesterday.
"The MoU is expected to be signed this year, under which the MIPR will be working with the Wasan Vocational School regarding courses that will help students find a career in agriculture," he said.
He added that the MoU will also seal a deal to assist the Wasan Vocational School students find work placements and attachments as well as employment after their graduation.
"The MIPR will act as a consultation firm and help students by guiding about employment prospects after they have completed their studies."
Although the collaboration is currently being discussed, he said that the MIPR has been assisting students in getting work placements, which is part of school's programme. However, the MoU will make the collaboration more concrete.
"The MoU will be a win-win situation for both the parties. The MIPR will get well qualified workforce whereas the students will benefit from training which will help them in finding employment," he said.
Saiful Rizal Marali, the school's principal, also confirmed that the MoU will lead to more courses at the vocational school.
The principal also touched upon school's padi planting project being implemented in collaboration with the Agricultural Department under the MIPR and experts from the Philippines Rice Research Institute.
The padi project consists of a 100-sq metre of land where students are taught padi farming techniques.
"The project is aimed at training more local farmers to make them experts in rice production," he said.
He said the reason for selecting the Philippines to assist them with the project was that the country is known for its varieties of padi.
He hoped that the students can benefit from training under the Philippines experts and learn more about the use of modern science in agriculture.
The Wasan Vocational School currently has 52 students out of which 20 are doing National Diploma in Agricultural Science.
The project, which was initiated two weeks ago, aims to contribute to the country's agricultural development and help the national economy.
One of the students who wished to be known as Nurazlina, said the younger generation was not interested in farming because they think it involves too much labour.
"It's actually interesting and fun because we use new equipment and more advanced methods of farming in sharp contrast to old conventional methods," she said.
"They (the younger generation) need to know about this," she said, adding that modern farming is no longer a back-breaking calling.
"This is important since we are trying to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production by 2010 (20 per cent) and 2015 (60 per cent)."
Nurhidaya, another student, said that the project covers all aspects of the rice farming, including how to protect the crops from weeds and insects.
"We use seven different types of seeds from the Philippines and sow them manually
No comments:
Post a Comment