Anwar also wanted a report on the matter to be sent to him within two weeks.
“I have informed Lih Kang to work more closely with the Ministry of Education so that the organising of the programmes can be accelerated and increase the interest of young people in STEM.
“My concern is that we are talking about digitilisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and bioeconomy, and we want to make that our approach reaches as many people as possible.
“So can biotechnology companies, agencies and the relevant ministries go down to schools and give some exposure to the students like once a month, just two or three hours?” he said.
Meanwhile, Anwar also announced that the government will provide an additional allocation of RM2 million for the implementation of the Bio-based Accelerator (BBA) programme this year in order to help the bio-based industry become more innovative and technologically savvy and further increase the workforce in STEM.
“With the encouragement from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the cooperation of Bioeconomy Corporation, BioNexus and BBA companies can ensure Malaysia has a highly qualified STEM workforce to drive innovation and sustainable development in the bioeconomy sector.
“That’s why, I fully support MOSTI and Bioeconomy Corporation to further improve the BBA programme and BioNexus status,” he said.
— BERNAMA