| Malaysian poverty databank clinches UN awards |
| News Desk The Star Publication Date : 29-06-2012 |
Malaysia's
eKasih project, a national poverty databank to provide aid to the poor,
clinched the first prize in the United Nations Public Service Awards in
New York.
It won under the
category of “Advancing Knowledge Management in Government” for Asia and
the Pacific, pushing Korean's initiative of National Science and
Technology Information Service to second place.
Prime
Minister Najib Tun Razak tweeted about it yesterday, saying: “eKasih
project won 1st prize in the United Nations Public Service Awards 2012, a
prestigious award for public service. Malaysian Pride!”
The awards honour creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions.
The
eKasih, launched in November 2007, is used by relevant agencies for
fair distribution of assistance and to avoid overlapping aid programmes.
In PUTRAJAYA, Najib said education plays a key role in expanding the social mobility of underprivileged Malaysians.
He
said the country had seen rapid movement of Malaysians up the social
ladder, with many having made a better life for themselves as
quickly as within one generation.
“Education
is the only way Malaysia can continue to improve on this positive trend
if the country intends to sit among the ranks of developed nations,” he
said.
“The focus should be
on intellectual capital because if we only look at physical
development, our (overall) development would sputter or not go
smoothly,” he said in an informal dialogue with academics at his
official residence in Petaling Jaya.
During the event, Najib also launched the 1Malaysia Tuition for the rakyat (TR1M) programme.
He also presented a 2 million ringgit (US$625,978) grant to cover operational costs.
TR1M launched its pilot programme in Selangor on June 18, covering 107 schools in the state and serving over 10,000
students with the help of 350 teachers.
The
programme, whose participants include students who received the
1Malaysia netbook, offers online interactive tuition classes for
students preparing for the UPSR examination, while students sitting for
the PMR (Lower Secondary Assessment) and SPM (Malaysian Certificate of
Education) examinations will attend conventional tuition classes in
their schools.
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