KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (Bernama) -- Yayasan PETRONAS recently awarded 243 teachers with the Duta Guru recognition under its Program Duta Guru (PDG), which aims to equip 4,500 teachers with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competency to encourage greater learning interest in STEM-related subjects amongst students.
 
Introduced in 2020, PDG is Yayasan PETRONAS’ signature teacher training programme in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Teach For Malaysia (TFM) and has to-date, certified more than 500 Duta Guru.
  
The award ceremony was held during the PDG National Symposium 2023, a two-day conference themed “Building Future-Proof Problem Solvers: Exploring the Intersection between Integrated STEM and a Sustainable Future”, which saw over 900 attendees including key stakeholders, policymakers, NGOs, educational subject experts, teachers and students from around the nation.
 
MoE Deputy Director-General of Education, Policy and Curriculum Sector, Dr. Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim who officiated PDG National Symposium 2023, shared his optimism in the progress and development of the teacher training programme:
 
“I am glad to see that we have begun to reap the fruits of labour from PDG. This is made possible by the collective effort between the Ministry, Yayasan PETRONAS and TFM. This year, we recorded and exceeded the STEM enrolment rate by 45 per cent among students nationwide. We are in the right direction and with consistent effort, we can go further.”
 
The Symposium also saw its first Student Roundtable Discussion on the topic of Empowering Future Innovators: Fostering a Culture of Problem-solving and Critical Thinking in STEM Classrooms where students shared how they applied higher order thinking skills in studies and STEM projects.
 
Yayasan PETRONAS CEO, Shariah Nelly Francis shared in her welcoming remarks, “PDG is very much aligned with the 12^th Malaysia Plan in ensuring equal access to quality education, regardless of location and background. We are also heartened by the Government's initiatives as outlined in the recent Budget 2024 to further advance the nation's STEM enrolment. This demonstrates the commitment of the country in cultivating the students' interest in STEM in producing a highly skilled workforce that can propel Malaysia’s economic progress.”
 
The 243 teachers from Cohort Three of PDG who received their Duta Guru award will now begin their journey as a catalyst for STEM education in their respective schools and districts after completing the two-year training session.
 
PDG is currently training its fourth Cohort consisting of 453 STEM teachers from secondary schools nationwide.

​Issued by: 
Yayasan PETRONAS  

CAPTION & MEDIA KIT
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/
1Js5NvjxS1j2ViUlF7mZWovKglaosSp7w?usp=share_link
 
Photo 1: Secondary school students from Klang Valley taking charge in a thought-provoking dialogue at the student Roundtable Discussion at the Program Duta Guru National Symposium 2023.
 
Photo 2: Dr. Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim, Deputy Director-General of Education, Policy and Curriculum Sector officiating the Program Duta Guru National Symposium 2023.
 
Photo 3: Dr. Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim, Deputy Director-General of Education, Policy and Curriculum Sector visiting the Innovation Project in Community & Engineering Design Process Cross Curriculum presentation by teachers from Cohort 3 of Program Duta Guru.

SOURCE: Yayasan PETRONAS  

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Yayasan PETRONAS 
Name: Lim Shie-Lynn
Tel: +6012 304 3389 
Email: shielynn.lim@petronas.com 

Name: Low Jia Yin
Tel: +6012 3858 631 
Email: low.jiayin@petronas.com  

--BERNAMA