By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Apr 12: The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Trailblazers Sarawak 2023 event, which will include a Raspberry Pi Forum and a STEM festival, will take place from July 6 to July 8.
The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus and the closing ceremony at Curtin University Malaysia.
The event is organised by the Ministry of Education, Innovation, and Talent Development (MEITD) in collaboration with Swinburne Sarawak, Curtin Malaysia, and the University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) to promote innovation and digital skills among young children through the use of Raspberry Pi mini single-board computers.
According to MEITD minister Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, the event will include all 30 district education offices (PPD), over 2000 students and teachers, industry exhibits, and talks by internationally acclaimed speakers.
“The event will have two major programmes, a Raspberry Pi Forum and a STEM festival.
“Both programmes are pivotal in showcasing the best talents Sarawak has to offer, and demonstrate how my Ministry has been central to the development of human capital.
“My Ministry began with a vision to help accelerate innovation and digital skills among young children through the use of Raspberry Pi,” Sagah said at a press conference on the Raspberry Pi Forum and Science Week 2023 held today at Swinburne Sarawak in Kuching.
He reiterated that the Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, credit-card-sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor, and that it is a capable device that allows students to explore computing and learn how to programme in coding languages such as Scratch and Python.
“The Raspberry Pi was chosen because it is an application that can be used as an intranet in rural areas that do not have internet connectivity, and I am confident that it will provide our students with a better understanding of the world of digitalisation, data processing, coding, and so on,” he added.
Additionally, Sagah stated that MEITD has provided more than 9,000 Raspberry Pi sets, complete with monitors, keyboards, and mice, to primary schools in Sarawak since 2021, and that the Sarawak government is considering upgrades and additional items to supplement the distributed sets.
“All the while, we are using state funds. We hope that the federal government will assist us one day, but this is a Sarawak initiative,” he disclosed.
The MEITD minister further explained, “We began rolling out training to teachers across Sarawak in 2022, delivering training at Higher Education Institution partners such as Swinburne Sarawak, UTS, Curtin Malaysia, and Riam Institute of Technology, as well as going directly to rural schools and PPDs to reduce the burden of teachers travelling to cities across Sarawak.
“We also finished training over 1,300 teachers, PPD staff, and school computer technicians in 2022, fulfilling our promise to train at least 1,265 teachers in 2022. This training will be ongoing and available to teachers in 2023, 2024, and possibly beyond.” — DayakDaily
