KUALA LUMPUR: Her Majesty Raja Zarith Sofiah, Queen of Malaysia has called for secondary school students, especially those from B40 households, to be exposed to the arts industry as a means of steering them away from social ills.
In a post shared on the Facebook page of Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, Her Majesty acknowledged the challenges faced by the B40 group and noted that not all of their children are solely inclined towards academic pursuits.
“It would be beneficial to expose them to potential career paths in the arts, which holds great promise.
“I aspire to create such opportunities as a means of encouraging students to develop valuable artistic skills, guided by successful celebrities who can serve as mentors. This, in turn, can reduce the risk of them falling into social problems that could jeopardise their future.
“Such efforts would also help address mental health issues such as depression and loneliness, while fostering the spirit of unity in supporting those in need,” she said today.
Earlier, Raja Zarith Sofiah granted an audience to and held a meeting with a delegation of national arts and culture industry practitioners.
The meeting, among others, was to discuss a proposal to introduce a programme aimed at exposing B40 secondary school students to the arts industry through engagements with practitioners and prominent artists via a stage production.
According to Her Majesty, the programme would go beyond in-school arts education with teachers by offering real-life exposure to the workings of the industry, involving actors, directors, musicians, and other behind-the-scenes figures in a production.
Among those present were Tengku Sri Kelana D’raja Datuk Seri Raja Rezza Shah Raja Aman Shah, National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage (ASWARA) board of directors member Datuk Syafinaz Selamat, Karyawan president Datuk Freddie Fernandez, SENIMAN president Zed Zaidi and renowned director Datuk Zahim Albakri. – Bernama
