PETALING JAYA: The education ministry is aiming to set up schools that cater especially for children from the poorest communities by next year, says its minister Fadhlina Sidek.

She said these schools will ensure that poor students enjoy a higher standard of education.

“We will provide updates as we want to ensure these (special) schools are ready to operate,” she told reporters after launching a school-in-hospital (SDH) programme at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government will introduce a new type of school for children from poor families to ensure they are not left behind in their studies.

The school would be similar to a secondary boarding school and cater to poor students, including those who are behind in their studies.

Previously, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) highlighted that the lack of funds was among the reasons why many children from urban and rural low-income families dropped out of school.

Meanwhile, on the SDH programme, Fadhlina said there were a total of 17 SDH in 11 states.

“This (SDH programme) is very important, especially in ensuring access to education for our children, and this includes those in hospitals.”

PETALING JAYA: Free breakfast will be served to children in primary schools throughout the country from January next year, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said today.

This will ensure they have the right nutrition to stay healthy and focus on their daily lessons, he said on his Facebook page.

Maszlee said this is part of the ministry’s initiatives to ensure that school children have access to nutritious food.

“In this connection, starting from January 2020, the ministry will launch a special free breakfast programme for children in primary schools across the country.

ONLINE accessibility to booking accommodations and flights has made travelling a breeze for holiday-seekers everywhere.Today, information is right at one’s finger tips and it is second nature for travellers to scour the Internet when making travel plans.Gone are the days of making room reservations via the telephone as the digital age gives travellers the ease of looking for information on room rates, promotional prices and reviews on the Internet.Travellers also habitually turn to global online hospitality services such as Airbnb and online travel agencies (OTA) such as Booking.com, Agoda and Traveloka for promotional deals – a trend that has been growing since 2013.However, instead of complementing small industry players, such online services have impacted the presence of budget hotels in the hospitality industry.

Tough competition

Malaysia Budget Hotel Association (MyBHA) said budget hotels have faced stiff competition from the online platforms over the last two years.MyBHA Kuala Lumpur chapter president Kenneth Oh said budget hotels (with three-star ratings and below), recorded a drop of 15% to 20% in revenue due to competition.“There are about 500 budget hotels in Kuala Lumpur, and some have been suffering losses in the past two years.“This has resulted in some operators selling off their properties due to lack of business,” he said.Leong and Oh say budget hotels in Kuala Lumpur are suffering due to hefty taxes levied upon them and lack of supervision of players in the hospitality industry. -filepicBudget hotels are struggling for several reasons.Aside from an oversupply of hotels in the city and lower tourism arrivals last year, Airbnb and OTA contributed to the competition while tourism tax and Sales and Service Tax (SST) further added to the burden of budget hotel operators.

KUALA LUMPUR: The nation’s education sector has seen the introduction of various reforms aimed at promoting excellence in human capital development in the past one year since Pakatan Harapan helmed the Federal Government.Driven by its slogan “Schools for the Community, Universities for Society”, the Education Ministry is endeavouring to enhance the status and image of the teaching profession via the implementation of various initiatives, aimed at reducing the workload of teachers and ensuring their well-being.To relieve teachers of the clerical work they have been burdened with all these years, the ministry has simplified file management and documentation through three interventions, namely textbook loan scheme, committee files and classroom-based assessment reports.

Data and online system management have also been simplified via two interventions, namely collecting data from the ministry’s existing sources and recording student attendance online.National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan said the new measures would give teachers more time to interact with their students.He said NUTP has been working with the ministry since last July and held discussions with minister Dr Maszlee Malik and his deputy Teo Nie Ching on the implementation of the new work processes.“What’s important is that the minister has begun to give focus on ensuring that teachers perform their rightful task, which is teaching and not be bogged down with filling up forms,” said Tan.He also said the challenges faced by teachers today were related to the issue of professionalism.

GENEVA: The global unemployment rate inched down last year, the UN said Wednesday, warning though that jobs often failed to guarantee decent living, with some 700 million workers wallowing in poverty.Unemployment around the world fell last year to 5.0 percent – from 5.1 percent in 2017 – for the first time dropping to the level seen before the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the International Labour Organization said.But in its flagship “World Employment and Social Outlook” trends report, the ILO also raised serious red flags about the health of the planet’s job market.Deborah Greenfield, ILO’s deputy director-general, told journalists in Geneva that the decline in global unemployment “is projected to stall“, amid “uncertainty on many fronts,” and a “deteriorating economic outlook.”

The UN agency said it expected the jobless rate to remain at roughly the same level this year and in 2020, although the number of unemployed people should swell by two million to a total of 174 million next year as a result of the expanding labour force.In particular, the report highlighted the hundreds of millions of people who remain poor despite holding one or more jobs.In fact, it found that a majority of the 3.3 billion people employed around the globe last year suffered a “lack of material well-being, economic security, equal opportunities or scope for human development.”“Being in employment does not always guarantee a decent living,” ILO research director Damian Grimshaw said in a statement, pointing out that “a full 700 million people are living in extreme or moderate poverty despite having employment.”

 

It is clear from the AKPK event as well as studies by the Consumer Research and Resource centre, Asian Institute of Finance and Bank Negara Malaysia as well as other institutions that Malaysian consumers are facing severe financial stress. It was reported at the AKPK event that financial wellbeing of Malaysian consumers was at a dismal level, three out of ten consumers had to borrow to pay for essential goods and many consumers did not set aside money for emergencies.

Malaysian consumers were facing three challenges- low and stagnant incomes, increasing costs of living and poor financial planning and financial management practices. One critical way forward to face these three challenges is through empowering consumers through financial education. In the twenty first century, the ability to deal effectively with money and financial matters is increasingly important for every person responsible for managing his financial affairs in everyday life.

The increasing importance of financial literacy is attributable to several demographic, societal and economic trends such as decreasing incomes while costs of living increases, increase in life expectancy, pressure on consumers especially children to consume through aggressive marketing techniques, greater responsibility on consumers on retirement as well as the complexity and increase in the number of financial products and services. Overall more responsibility for financial decisions is being shifted to the individual. How successfully people adapt to these changes will be affected not only by their skills and knowledge but also by their access and skills to use effectively financial products, services and information. People need help to make the choices that are right for them, and to understand the consequences of the choices they are making.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kerajaan sedang berusaha untuk menghapuskan penggunaan plastik sekali guna yang tidak terbiodegradasi secara berperingkat dengan mempromosi alternatif dan bahan mampan dalam pengeluaran plastik selaras Pelan Hala Tuju Kelestarian Plastik Malaysia 2021-2030.

Menteri Sumber Asli, Alam Sekitar dan Perubahan Iklim, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad berkata, pihaknya juga sedang mencari jalan untuk menggalakkan usahawan sektor tidak formal seperti pengusaha warung dan gerai kecil yang memainkan peranan besar dalam komuniti agar menggantikan plastik sekali guna dengan yang boleh terbiodegradasi.

"Kita perlu memastikan bahawa plastik yang digunakan benar-benar boleh terbiodegradasi kerana pada masa ini, kebanyakannya masih perlu dibawa ke kilang atau loji dan dibiodegrad dalam persekitaran yang terkawal,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas menghadiri majlis membina rangkaian di sini pada Khamis.

Majlis itu anjuran Polymateria sempena Persidangan dan Pameran Teknologi Hijau dan Produk Eko Antarabangsa Malaysia (IGEM) 2023.

Beliau berkata, SIRIM juga telah mengeluarkan Label Eko bagi memastikan produk dalam pasaran adalah palsu dan mengelirukan pengguna.

"Pada masa sama, kami menggalakkan seramai mungkin pemain industri beralih kepada penggunaan plastik terbiodegradasi," katanya.

DUBAI: A draft of a potential climate deal at the COP28 summit today suggested a range of options countries could take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but omitted the “phase out” of fossil fuels many nations have demanded.

United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said a central benchmark of success for COP28 would be whether it yielded a deal to phase out coal, oil, and gas use fast enough to avert disastrous climate change.

“That doesn’t mean that all countries must phase out fossil fuels at the same time,” he told reporters at the Dubai summit, which is scheduled to end tomorrow but could go on longer if negotiations drag on.

A new draft of a COP28 agreement, published by the United Arab Emirates’ presidency of the summit, proposed various options but did not refer to a “phase out” of all fossil fuels, which had been included in a previous draft.

The draft deal listed eight options that countries “could” use to cut emissions, including “reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050”.

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Banking Group dan Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) telah menjalin kerjasama untuk mempercepatkan penggunaan rumusan tenaga boleh diperbaharui dan kecekapan tenaga dalam kalangan perusahaan kecil dan sederhana (PKS) dan individu.

Di bawah kerjasama tersebut, TNB berperanan untuk menyediakan nasihat teknikal mengenai kecekapan tenaga dan rumusan tenaga boleh diperbaharui, termasuk membekal dan memasang sistem solar fotovoltaik (PV) kepada PKS, mengutamakan pelanggan PKS RHB, serta pelanggan dan rakan kongsi perniagaan TNB.

Sementara itu, RHB menawarkan rumusan pembiayaan hijau PKS, merangkumi tenaga boleh diperbaharui, pembinaan, hartanah komersial, modal kerja dan perbelanjaan modal (capex).

RHB dan TNB akan bersama-sama menganjurkan jerayawara kelestarian bermula suku ketiga tahun ini untuk melibatkan PKS di bandar-bandar utama Malaysia bagi menggalakkan kesedaran tentang amalan perniagaan mampan.

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