It is the second such school after the one located in Petra Jaya here began its operations last year.

According to him, the response from students to the international school in Petra Jaya has been encouraging, with about 400 primary six pupils taking the assessment test held on Feb 4, this year.

“The test was administered online throughout Sarawak at assessment centres coordinated by the state Education Department. The Kuching centre was administered by Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak,” he said.

A total of 100 students will be enroling for Form 1 in the international school in Petra Jaya for the 2023/2024 session, he added.

Meanwhile, on the dual language programme (DLP), Sagah said the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English is conducted at all 1,265 primary schools in the state and they are now currently at the Primary Four level.

“DLP Sarawak is a state initiative and wholly-funded by Sarawak government. To date, the training programme has received RM15 million to cover expenses for teaching and learning materials, training and other incidentals,” he said during his ministerial winding-up speech during the DUN sitting today.

Noting that DLP trainings and subject matters are determined by the Education Department and the Institute of Teacher Education, Sagah said about 5,200 teachers have been trained so far.

He said another initiative that the state government promotes is the NASA Space Apps Challenge, which is the largest international annual space and science hackathon organised by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States.

“The challenge entails the participants to design suitable apps specifically to solve real-world problems and space under various themes of the challenge utilising NASA’s free and open data,” he added.

Sagah pointed out that the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Trailblazers Sarawak, powered by Raspberry Pi, organised by his ministry in collaboration with Curtin University Malaysia, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, University Technology Sarawak Sibu, the state Education Department and other partners will be held in July, this year.

“The first Raspberry Pi forum will be held in Swinburne University and the STEM Trailblazers, Sarawak’s own version of Science Week whereby workshops and competitions will be held, will take place in Curtin University.”

Besides that, Sagah said Sarawak English Language Education Symposium will be held in Sibu from June 30 to Aug 2, attracting about 250 English teachers from the central region of the state.