Ensuring 30% Brunei Students Pursue Higher Education
By Ubaidillah Mash

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei is aiming to increase the number of students in higher education from the current 13 per cent to 30 per cent over the next five years, said Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdul Rahman Dato Setia Hj Mohamed Taib.

The education ministry is also hoping to achieve "at least 50 per cent participation rate in post secondary education" including students pursuing vocational and technical training, he said yesterday.

"Our first commitment to Bruneians is to work towards enhancing their quality of life through the provision of an education that gives them the necessary skills and knowledge," he said during St Andrew's School's Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Pehin Dato Hj Abdul Rahman said that the new education system, named the 21st Century National Education System (SPN 21), is geared towards "a quality education that responds and fulfils the needs of a constantly evolving society in a globalised world full of uncertainty and challenges".

New revised methods of assessment to measure students' achievement are also being introduced to support the SPN 21, he said.

"With a revised curriculum, a high quality teaching force and better resources in our schools, we hope to improve the retention rate of our cohorts of pupils moving from primary right up to post secondary education," the minister said.

The minister added that there were strong links between quality education and economic performance, investment, wealth creation, participation in the global economy and the development of a knowledge-based economy.

According to the ministry, the percentage of students going for further education currently stands at only 13 per cent. This figure is an increase of about three per cent over the last seven years.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam cited that approximately 10 per cent of students enrolled in tertiary institutions, based on "statistics in 2001.

Dr Richard Leete, who visited Brunei earlier this month, said that education played a key role in determining the value of the Human Development Index (HDI).

"If you compare Brunei to the top five countries in the world, in terms of the HDI, it's in the area of education that it's lagging. And that's going to take a lot of time. It's a generation away, I agree, but it's still going to take a lot of time," he said.

Pehin Dato Hj Abdul Rahman said that the ministry has consulted with stakeholders and foreign experts have been called in to help develop SPN 21.

"We will create in the new education system a seamless progression for some of our learners to progress from our mainstream schools to our vocational and technical institution via a three-tiered system." -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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