Penangites urged to emulate China's progress in STEM

GEORGE TOWN: People here should emulate China in embracing the teachings of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) if they wish to see Penang move up the value chain.
In line with this, the state government encourages teachers and students in the state to participate in a special workshop organised by Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd at University of Science Malaysia (USM) on March 28.
State Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee Chairman Phee Boon Poh said in order to reach Industry 4.0, the younger generation needs to prepare themselves by being creative with the help of science and technology, and artificial intelligence.
"China has advanced very fast because the majority of factories there employ robotic technology. I do not wish for our country to be left out of this age of modernisation," Phee said at a press conference to announce the workshop.
He said teachers and the Parent-Teacher Associations should organise more robotics competition for students.
"When the students are in a group of three, they are competing with other groups of students and they are also networking with each other. This allows them to share their knowledge and inspire themselves to be the leaders of tomorrow," said Phee.
Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd Co-founder and CEO Tan Eng Tong said teachers and students should be encouraged to participate in the robot programming workshop in USM as the awareness of this field in Penang is not high.
Tan said currently there are less than five teams from Penang as the majority of the teams are from Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley.
He introduced the company's two robotic programming sets both valued at RM850 and RM1,800 respectively.
There is a rental program available for schools who cannot make full payment for the robotic programming sets.