Bandar Seri Begawan - The Minister of Education, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Awg Abu Bakar bin Hj Apong explained that the 'Model School' project implemented in some selected schools in the country are not schools for excellent students (high-achievers) as wrongly perceived by some parents in the country.

This was in response to the query and suggestion from the Legislative Council (LegCo) members during the LegCo Meeting yesterday on the 'Sekolah Contoh' or Model School in Panaga.

"Maybe, the connotation of 'Model School' attracts parent's attention. The principal has also voiced difficulties. When the school was announced as a model school, a lot of students from other schools wanted to migrate to the school," the minister said.

"Actually, model school is not (like) Maktab Sains. It is not a school that only enrols excellent students. It is an ordinary school (selected), where we want to see how this school will become progressive and achieved higher level of performance in a normal environment," the minister explained.

"The students in these schools are ordinary students but maybe the connotation of 'model school' have attracted the attention of parents (into misconception)," the minister added.

Therefore, (as a result) there are a lot of students in that school and in term of teaching infrastructure, the school is putting effort to add its teaching areas by taking several buildings around the school in order to accommodate the increased number of students.

"I would like to thank Yang Berhormat Awg Haji Mohd Shafiee bin Ahmad for his observation and suggestion on how to enhance the model school," the minister said.

The minister explained that the Model School project is newly implemented in May 2012. The minister urged for patience to see any changes.

"One of the programmes under the model school is to establish its own board of governors, which is different from ordinary school, because the board of governor can choose their own member comprising for example the private, industrial or business sectors. For instance, the Panaga School, (because of its location) can choose member from the Brunei Shell," the minister explained.

"... the school will not be monopolised by the Ministry of Education personnel. By that way, we are hoping contribution from these sides that have real experience in the financial institutions and industries, on how to best achieve the aspiration of the model school," the minister added.

"In this opportunity, I thanked DST for contributing iPAD to the model schools and hopefully this kind of cooperation can be made by non-government agencies to build together the education sector in the country," the minister said.

The ministry said the 'Model School' project in five schools are being assessed.