SINCE its inception in 2009, the PERMATApintar programme has identified 5,600 gifted children.
They are enrolled in enrichment and school holiday programmes, says Pusat PERMATApintar director Professor Datuk Dr Noriah Mohd Ishak.
“The programmes offer courses in cryptology, biotechnology and inductive-deductive mathematics, among others.
“Some participants have been selected to enrol in the high school programme through the PERMATApintar College at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
“Sixteen from our first batch of high school students have graduated.
“Two were offered the opportunity to complete their PhDs at Oxford and Princeton Universities, while three received offers to complete their master’s degrees at Edinburgh University, University College London and local institutions.
“We have won many accolades in Malaysia and abroad in research competitions, such as the Genius Olympiad in New York, the Young Scientist Research Competition in Romania, the World Scholar Cup in Bangkok, the National Formula One in School Championship, chess competitions, and the Biology and Physics Olympiads.”
Noriah says 415 students who graduated from PERMATApintar College at UKM are enrolled in universities in Malaysia and overseas, including Cambridge University, Oxford, London School of Economics and New South Wales University, adding that some students are accepted into university at 15 or 16.
Among the goals of PERMATApintar are:
TO identify gifted children from all walks of life;
TO provide an educational experience that is unique to such children’s learning needs, such as providing enrichment programmes to boost their interest in subjects that are beyond the school syllabus for their age group;
TO help the country build leaders and, hopefully, recipients of Nobel prizes;
TO build a network with gifted children from other countries, to promote communication and collaboration;
TO help gifted children connect with the world’s top scientists; and,
TO help Malaysia prevent the “brain drain” problem by providing the best education.
“We don’t want gifted children and their families to move to another country for better education,” says Noriah.