Parents should consider their children's interest before deciding on field of study

Public perception towards their children's education needs to change so that their real interest and talents could give them academic success as well as employment opportunities.

Deputy Education Minister, Datuk Chong Sin Woon said parents should therefore consider their children's interest before deciding what field they should study at the tertiary institutions.

"What's happening now is that parents only focus on sending their children to university without considering the outcomes, while we want their children to be marketable graduates in the job market.

"It's a norm that when their children have achieved excellent results, they must study medicine or engineering even if they have no interest, hence their academic achievements could turn out to be unsatisfactory."

Chong said this to Bernama after launching the ICT and Career Carnival (KICK) at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Dato' Haji Mohd Redza, here, Sunday.

On the KICK programme, he said it was aimed at giving exposure to school leavers at the SPM level as to the academic direction they should take after this and the field of study they could choose to suit their interest.

"There are also lots of employment opportunities out there. It's just that they are not aware of jobs that could meet their interest, hence this programme could indirectly open up their minds on the job market and career path to take," he added.

The KICK programme, organised by SMK Dato' Haji Mohd Redza with the cooperation of KRU Academy and other private and government agencies, also provided information on the fields of study offered by the participating higher learning institutions.

-- BERNAMA