NCIA picks Taiping school

TAIPING: THE 131-year-old Sekolah Menengah King Edward VII here has been chosen as a key partner by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) in its efforts to introduce applicable industrial-based skills to students. Announcing the addition of the boys’ school into NCIA’s Kelab Kerjaya Programme during the 47th Old Edwardians annual dinner here, NCIA chief executive officer Datuk Redza Rafiq Abdul Razak said Taiping would be seeing more growth in the near future as one of the key economic growth nodes in the Northern Corridor.

He said Taiping would be witnessing various economic developments that provide opportunities for the people here.

“And to continue to provide this (economic) momentum, the NCIA has agreed for the King Edward VII school to be one of our key partners in NCIA’s Kelab Kerjaya Programme.

“This will involve collaboration among the school, NCIA, training institutes and the private sector,” he told the New Straits Times in an interview here. Present at the interview were school principal Abd Aziz Samsuddin and Old Edwardians Association of Malaysia president Mohaideen A.K. Mohd Ishack.

Redza Rafiq, who is an old boy of the school, said the programme, to be implemented by the school’s Kelab Kerjaya, would initially focus on providing the students industrial skills on heritage tourism in line with Taiping’s tagline as a “Bandar Warisan”.

He said the programme would be a non-examination-based course through which students would be taught practical lessons related to heritage tourism.

“Discussions are under way with the Department of Skills Development as part of the process to certify the school as an Accredited Training Centre for the National Skills Development Programme.

“The move to make King Edward VII School as one of our key partners is in line with NCIA’s long-term goals to develop Taiping and Kamunting as one of the economic growth nodes in the Northern Corridor,” he said, adding that NCIA would later introduce skills in more technical areas through Kelab Kerjaya.
To ensure that the school was adequately prepared, Redza Rafiq said NCIA had started work to make improvements in a few areas at the school.

Meanwhile, Aziz said the heritage tourism syllabus would be taught to students in Forms Four and Five who had performed above average in their studies.

“Besides learning in the class, the students would also be undergoing practical training or on-site stints at various heritage sites in Taiping, such as the museum and zoo.”

The heritage tourism subject would be introduced starting next year, he added.

Source: NST-23 June 2014
By: Jaspal Singh (jaspal@nst.com.my)