Monitoring cyber threats
25 Sept 2010 (The Star)

KOTA MARUDU: Thousands of schoolchildren and teachers are being taught how to use the Internet safely and ethically.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said students from 10,000 schools would undergo courses and talks as part of the Cybersafe in Schools programme.
Rustic feel: Muhyiddin visiting SRK Ongkilan and SMK Bandau in Kota Marudu yesterday. Accompanying him are Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman (second from right) and Science ,Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili (right).

Launching the programme at SMK Tandek in this northern Sabah district here yesterday, he said the talks and courses would be organised by CyberSecurity Malaysia under the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.

"This initiative is aimed at showing students and teachers what are cyber threats and how the Internet should be used safely," he added.

To date, more than 7,700 students and 562 teachers from 22 schools have gone through the programme.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, also announced the construction of two secondary schools for Kota Marudu.

He said the two secondary schools, costing RM34mil each, will be built so that students of SMK Bandau and SMK Langkon would have their own classrooms by 2013.

The two secondary schools have about 600 students each. They now share classrooms with SK Ongkilan and SK Langkon primary schools.

They are among 27 schools in Sabah where students have had to share classrooms with their primary school counterparts.

On the national school milk programme to be launched next month, Muhyiddin said the Government was expecting to spend RM60mil to provide milk to some three million primary school pupils.

He said the Education Ministry was in final discussions with various milk producers, including the Kota Kinabalu-based Sabah International Dairies, for the supply of milk.

"We will also have to look at having proper storage facilities and teaching teachers the proper method of keeping the milk," he added.

Muhyiddin also said nepotism was clearly evident in the ongoing PKR elections, in which family members of party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced their bids for top posts.

"They accuse Barisan Nasional of nepotism but they are going full scale," he said, adding that these allegations were now backfiring on the Opposition.