By Shahfizal Musa
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 24 June – Society needed to be able to identify gifted and talented children who have the potential to become geniuses from their early age.

This would prevent them from being emotionally stressed from being misunderstood as disruptive, unruly, indisciplined and ignored by society.

Patron of PERMATAPintar Negara Centre, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor said society needed to understand their shortcomings so as to be able to provide the right kind of environment at home and in schools to recognise and assist the gifted and talented children.

She said one aspect of the gifted and talented child that is often misunderstood by society is their emotional state. They thus carry the emotional burden of often being ignored.

She was speaking at the launching of the MAWHIBA-UKM All Girls Summer camp in PERMATAPintar Negara here today. MAWHIBA is the Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul-Aziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity.

The three week camp organised by PERMATAPintar Negara Centre, The National University of Malaysia (UKM), MAWHIBA and John Hopkins University is attended by 20 students from Saudi Arabia, two from Indonesia and 30 from PERMATAPintar Negara.

The students are provided with three programmes to choose during their three week camp, that is Probability and Game Theory, Cryptology, and Biotechnology. The camp will be guided by Instructors from John Hopkins University

Vice Chancellor of UKM, Prof Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin said the PERMATAPintar  programme has proven to be a success and was now looking at the posibility of extending admission to children from ASEAN countries.

A Momarandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between PERMATAPintar Negara Centre and MAWHIBA to facilitate further collaborations between the two organisations to help gifted children. It was signed by Director of PERMATAPintar Negara, Prof Dr Noriah Mohd Ishak and Deputy Secretary General for Female Section of MAWHIBA, Dr Amal Al-Hazzaa. A Director from JHU Susanna Holmes was present.

Director of Institute of Occidental Studies (IKON), Assoc Prof Dr Rashila Ramli, who was at the signing of the MoA, said the PERMATAPintar programme provides the much needed space, environment and qualified guidance for the gifted and talented children to grow to their full potential.

They will thus not be neglected within the present school system because of the lack of qualified teachers to deal with their extra-intellectual needs.

Director of the Institute of Climate Change Studies, Prof Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah, said UKM is proud to be part of such an endeavour to provide service, knowledge and skill in guiding the gifted children who are studying in UKM.

She echoed the words of Dr Amal Abdullah Al-Hazza who said the training afforded the gifted is to assist them to be better able to contribute to their society and religion.