KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is looking to set up an artificial intelligence council, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif.
"We will set up an AI council in the state. I will bring this matter to the cabinet for approval.
"After that, we will form a committee which would include the Sabah Education Department.
"I had previously brought this up with Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). We will discuss (further) with UMS as the expertise in that sector is available at that university," he said.
Arifin, who is also state executive councillor for education, said this during the handing over of devices for the Anak Kita SPM 2025 programme at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka here.
More than 1,800 tablets were handed over to 24 district Education officers during the ceremony.
Present were Education Department director-general Azman Adnan and Sabah Education director Datuk Raisin Saidin.
Arifin thanked the Education Ministry, Finance Ministry, Yayasan Hasanah and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris for assisting those students to prepare for their upcoming exams.
Apart from digitalising the learning experience, Arifin echoed the speech earlier by Azman to focus on the mastery of Bahasa Melayu and the English language, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
Meanwhile, on school dropouts in Sabah, he gave his assurances that the state government would work with the Sabah Education Department to reduce the statistics.
"What is more important is we have been giving many initiatives to strengthen the education sector.
"This year, we have added about RM50 million for those under the Chief Minister's Office Special Tasks Department."
At another event earlier at the Sabah International Convention Centre, Arifin had represented the chief minister in witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Sabah Islamic Council (MUIS) and Zecon Bhd.
The MoU was for a student housing project with an estimated gross development value (GDV) of RM1.3 billion.
The project will be developed on a 6.07ha plot owned by MUIS, located next to Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Faculty of Medicine.
A total of 1,610 apartment units will be built, accommodating up to 6,732 local and international students as well as staff.
The land ownership will remain under MUIS through the build, lease, maintain and transfer (BLMT) development concept.