Submitted by webmaster on Thu, 2010-10-28 13:23
By O.T.K. Info Unit
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28, 2010): The University of Sunderland (UOS) has conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Education on Pandan MP Dato’ Sri (Dr) Ong Tee Keat.
The mechanical engineer turned full-time politician was recognised by the UOS for his contributions in the field of education.
Ong founded Yayasan Bakti Nusa Malaysia (YBNM) after becoming the people’s elected representative in Ampang Jaya/Pandan.
YBNM was set up to help poor students in his constituency but it has evolved into a socio-education development foundation.
Ong also founded the Technical Resources and Internship Network programme (TRAIN) aimed at opening opportunities in vocational and skills training to those not academically inclined.
The following is Ong’s acceptance speech at SEGi University College’s convocation on Saturday (Oct 23, 2010):
“Honourable Chancellor,
Honourable Vice Chancellor,
Academics & Graduands
Distinguished guests,
Ladies & gentlemen.
I am immensely honoured and grateful to the University of Sunderland for conferring this award to me. It is a moment of great happiness in everyone’s life here in this hall, when a university degree is received, no matter at what level, from one of UK’s best institutions.
I am privileged and at the same time humbled to receive the Honorary Doctorate in Education today. It is more significant for me when I look back and ponder over the challenges that I had been grappling with during my early years of acquiring formal education.
Growing up in Kuala Lumpur in a family struggling to make ends meet, the spectre of dropping out of school was very real indeed. But we knew the value of solid education as foundation on which to build one’s life and I persevered. I managed to obtain a scholarship and completed my degree course in Mechanical Engineering from University Malaya.
Thanks to that particular opportunity, I am where I am today. The education in university was not just about graduating with a degree. It expanded my horizons, helped me mature and raised my consciousness to a level I could not have otherwise achieved on my own. And as the famous American Chief Justice, Oliver Wendel Holmes Jr. once said, “Imagination, once stretched can never return to its original dimensions”.
I realized and appreciated in great depth the importance of higher education as a liberator of one’s life, and indeed for society as a whole. It underpins our democracy by equalizing the conditions of its people. It became clear that no one race, or religion, or sect can lay claim to the vast knowledge that lay before us.
At the same time, I witnessed and experienced its powerful effect it had on me, people around me, and society in general – that there is a direct correlation between educational attainment with occupational opportunities and finally the right to lead the life one chooses to value.
This sparked my life-long passion in promoting the idea of equal educational opportunity for all Malaysians.
The Higher Opportunities for Private Education Programme or HOPE, of which I am patron, opens the doors to Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to pursue higher education at private institutions of higher learning, when they were denied a place in the public universities. Under HOPE, we made private education at top-notch private universities and colleges accessible to needy students through innovative subsidized scheme. To date, more than 1,200 students have benefitted from our efforts at HOPE.
Yet our efforts show that democratising education, which in turns fuels our freedom, demands more than just opening doors to our young. It underpins a more sophisticated notion of the right to equal access to education and training. As we attempt to find a grip on equality of opportunity in a diverse society, we need to think of both the process of opportunity as well as the capability aspect of opportunities. We need to take cognizance of the context and capacity, their talents, backgrounds, advantages and disadvantages and enable them to take action.
This is why we started the Technical Resources and Internship Network programme or TRAIN. TRAIN continues to open opportunities in vocational and skill training to those who are not academically inclined. Elsewhere, like in my constituency in Pandan, I take satisfaction in seeing our free tuition programme for schoolchildren continues to grow from strength to strength.
Creating substantively equal life chances for all the people is one of the pinnacles of the1Malaysia notion, and is certainly more powerful than loud but empty slogans. This,however, does not equate to and neither do I propose a damning ‘levelling-down’ where all are subject to the same one educational system and have the same results.
Rather, the more sophisticated form of equality may necessarily lead to some outperforming others. But if such a case arises, it is not through artificial social engineering hinged on arbitrary concerns such as colour and creed but through merit and talent.
It is this same spirit that I find burning within the hallowed halls of the University of Sunderland. I share your pride in witnessing the wonder that more than 300 people are able to graduate here today in Malaysia, half way across the world in Sunderland. It rings a true meaning to opening and equalizing educational opportunities for the people.
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Graduands and Guests, I hereby accept this Honorary Doctorate with humility, appreciation and pride.”
By O.T.K. Info Unit
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28, 2010): The University of Sunderland (UOS) has conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Education on Pandan MP Dato’ Sri (Dr) Ong Tee Keat.
The mechanical engineer turned full-time politician was recognised by the UOS for his contributions in the field of education.
Ong founded Yayasan Bakti Nusa Malaysia (YBNM) after becoming the people’s elected representative in Ampang Jaya/Pandan.
YBNM was set up to help poor students in his constituency but it has evolved into a socio-education development foundation.
Ong also founded the Technical Resources and Internship Network programme (TRAIN) aimed at opening opportunities in vocational and skills training to those not academically inclined.
The following is Ong’s acceptance speech at SEGi University College’s convocation on Saturday (Oct 23, 2010):
“Honourable Chancellor,
Honourable Vice Chancellor,
Academics & Graduands
Distinguished guests,
Ladies & gentlemen.
I am immensely honoured and grateful to the University of Sunderland for conferring this award to me. It is a moment of great happiness in everyone’s life here in this hall, when a university degree is received, no matter at what level, from one of UK’s best institutions.
I am privileged and at the same time humbled to receive the Honorary Doctorate in Education today. It is more significant for me when I look back and ponder over the challenges that I had been grappling with during my early years of acquiring formal education.
Growing up in Kuala Lumpur in a family struggling to make ends meet, the spectre of dropping out of school was very real indeed. But we knew the value of solid education as foundation on which to build one’s life and I persevered. I managed to obtain a scholarship and completed my degree course in Mechanical Engineering from University Malaya.
Thanks to that particular opportunity, I am where I am today. The education in university was not just about graduating with a degree. It expanded my horizons, helped me mature and raised my consciousness to a level I could not have otherwise achieved on my own. And as the famous American Chief Justice, Oliver Wendel Holmes Jr. once said, “Imagination, once stretched can never return to its original dimensions”.
I realized and appreciated in great depth the importance of higher education as a liberator of one’s life, and indeed for society as a whole. It underpins our democracy by equalizing the conditions of its people. It became clear that no one race, or religion, or sect can lay claim to the vast knowledge that lay before us.
At the same time, I witnessed and experienced its powerful effect it had on me, people around me, and society in general – that there is a direct correlation between educational attainment with occupational opportunities and finally the right to lead the life one chooses to value.
This sparked my life-long passion in promoting the idea of equal educational opportunity for all Malaysians.
The Higher Opportunities for Private Education Programme or HOPE, of which I am patron, opens the doors to Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to pursue higher education at private institutions of higher learning, when they were denied a place in the public universities. Under HOPE, we made private education at top-notch private universities and colleges accessible to needy students through innovative subsidized scheme. To date, more than 1,200 students have benefitted from our efforts at HOPE.
Yet our efforts show that democratising education, which in turns fuels our freedom, demands more than just opening doors to our young. It underpins a more sophisticated notion of the right to equal access to education and training. As we attempt to find a grip on equality of opportunity in a diverse society, we need to think of both the process of opportunity as well as the capability aspect of opportunities. We need to take cognizance of the context and capacity, their talents, backgrounds, advantages and disadvantages and enable them to take action.
This is why we started the Technical Resources and Internship Network programme or TRAIN. TRAIN continues to open opportunities in vocational and skill training to those who are not academically inclined. Elsewhere, like in my constituency in Pandan, I take satisfaction in seeing our free tuition programme for schoolchildren continues to grow from strength to strength.
Creating substantively equal life chances for all the people is one of the pinnacles of the1Malaysia notion, and is certainly more powerful than loud but empty slogans. This,however, does not equate to and neither do I propose a damning ‘levelling-down’ where all are subject to the same one educational system and have the same results.
Rather, the more sophisticated form of equality may necessarily lead to some outperforming others. But if such a case arises, it is not through artificial social engineering hinged on arbitrary concerns such as colour and creed but through merit and talent.
It is this same spirit that I find burning within the hallowed halls of the University of Sunderland. I share your pride in witnessing the wonder that more than 300 people are able to graduate here today in Malaysia, half way across the world in Sunderland. It rings a true meaning to opening and equalizing educational opportunities for the people.
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Graduands and Guests, I hereby accept this Honorary Doctorate with humility, appreciation and pride.”
ORIGINAL POSTING : http://ongteekeat.net
No comments:
Post a Comment