The Education Ministry will introduce the Teacher Professionalism Standard next year to beef up the education system and equip teachers in line with the New Economic Model.

Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong said the standard would be based on trainee teachers selection, pre-service training, teachers' placement, professional induction and continuous professional development.

The current teacher training curriculum will be enhanced to incorporate innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, resilience and competitiveness aspects," he said when responding to a question from senator Akbar Ali at the Dewan Negara today.

He said as such the ministry had introduced the Creativity Handbook: Development and Practice in Teaching and Learning by incorporating activities that emphasised creativity and innovation in every subject in the curriculum.

He said the ministry had also introduced bina insan programme (teachers motivation) of BIG, a compulsory programme at teacher training institutes.

"We have published a guideline book and what is important now is the implementing agents. That is why we created the BIG programme, which is conducted in six semesters.

"I am confident the five-and-a-half year training will help develop teachers' personality," he said.

To a question from senator Mustafa Kamal Mohd Yusof on the disparity between rural and urban schools, Wee said until December last year 10,281 projects were completed in the rural areas while 53 per cent or RM7.319 billion of RM13.723 billion allocated was spent.

Wee said the ministry had also increased the number of pre-school classes in rural areas, including for the Orang Asli and Penan communities.

Six schools were chosen for the implementation of the Orang Asli curriculum pilot projects and the response is encouraging, he added.

- Bernama