Thursday March 17, 2011
By TAN EE LOO educate@thestar.com.my
PUTRAJAYA: Be a teacher who can think critically, write persuasively and help students solve problems, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin advised aspiring teachers.
“Teachers should be sensitive and able to keep abreast of developments around them.
“If efforts are not made to move forward, we will be left behind in many areas, especially in human capital development,” he said in his speech at the joint convocation of teacher-training institutions nationwide here yesterday.
A total of 1,987 students received their Bachelor of Education degrees at the first joint convocation of the Institut Pendidikan Guru at the Putrajaya International Convention.
The teachers have since last month been posted to primary schools throughout the country.
Muhyiddin said society now needed teachers of high quality “in terms of knowledge and character”, committed to their role in the well-rounded development of the younger generation.
He said teachers must always be aware of the knowledge needed for them to be effective.
He advised teachers to instil a culture of innovation and creativity among students, following the implementation of the Government Transformation Programme and the New Economic Model.