Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud wants teachers in the state to come up with practical solutions to overcome the culture of narcissism taking up roots among the young generation.

He said today's youth were greatly influenced by advancements in the information and communication technology and they would express themselves freely to strangers.

"They no longer regard themselves as an important part of their own society and country.

"They actually regard themselves as global citizens which make them self-centred," he said when launching the state-level Teachers Day 2013 celebration at the Civic Centre, here, today.

He said youth today had high confidence in themselves and were daring to share information with their friends around the world and while they hated being ordered, they also did not want to take the lead.

"This is a problem affecting young people in developed countries around the world. This is the problem that we need to avoid in our country," said Taib.

In this regard, he suggested that teachers organise more activities to encourage social interaction in schools involving students and parent-teacher association members.

"Students should be regarded as corporate partners so that they will be motivated to spend more time in school for interaction activities rather than on Internet interaction.

"Put more emphasis as well on outdoor activities to inculcate them with good social and interpersonal communication with the community," he said.

Taib said the state government through Yayasan Sarawak would consider giving special awards to students with excellent interpersonal relationship and communication skills, vital qualities for the state's future workforce, beginning next year.

Later, he presented the "Tokoh Guru 2013" award to Mohamed Zain Abang Ismail from Sibu and the "Tokoh Kepimpinan Pendidikan Sarawak 2013" award to Datuk Seri Michael Manyin, who is also the state Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication and a former teacher.