•
Instilling Interest In Neuro Science Amongst Secondary Students
The Malaysian Brain-Bee Challenge 2019 (MBBC 2019) competition held at Â鶹ֱ²¥ (UUM) Tan Sri Othman Yeop Hall (DTSO) yesterday, aims to produce students who are interested in science, particularly in the field of neurology.
MBBC Coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fauziah Abdul Rahim said the main objective of the competition was to find the best candidate to represent Malaysia to the International Brain Bee Challenge (IBB) this year scheduled to be held at Daegu South Korea from 18 until 21 September.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fauziah who is also the Dean of the School of Education and Modern Languages (SEML), the organization of the competition was the first step of instilling interest and love for science particularly in neuro science amongst secondary students.
In fact, the programme is in line with the aspiration of the Ministry of Education (MOE) that is to nurture interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as means to increase the number of students venturing in the field of science as catalyst towards becoming a developed nation.
"Response towards the competition has been very encouraging as a total of 205 participants from 30 secondary schools participated in the northern zone screening test," she said at the programme organized by SEML in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
The Malaysian Brain-Bee Challenge 2019 was held simultaneously in 16 locations throughout Malaysia namely at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) Sabah (UMS), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
"Why do I want the Northern Zone to be involved even though UUM does not have a scientific or medical school? This is because this effort acts as an inspirational platform for producing more students interested in venturing into science, especially medicine specifically in the field of neurology.
She also spoke of her initial encounter with Neurology Specialist at USM Kubang Kerian, Dato’ Prof. Dr. Jafri Malin back in 2012 when she attended the International Congress of Psychology in Cape Town, Africa.
The meeting later paved the way for the organisation of the MBBC in UUM. The first MBBC at UUM began in 2014 and currently Zone A involves schools in Kedah and Perlis.
She too assisted in the setting up of Neuroscience Club at several schools in the Kubang Pasu District namely SMK Jitra, SMK Seri Mahawangsa, SK Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin and SK Paya Kemunting in efforts to nurture the interest of young pupils to become thinkers, scientists and doctors.