The efforts of Rosmah Mansor, wife of the Malaysian prime minister, in developing early childhood education through the Permata Negara programme has again received international recognition.

Today, she was made an honorary professor of the International Information Technology University (IITU) in Kazakhstan.

The award was presented to Rosmah by IITU president Professor Dr Kenzhegali Sagadiyev.

In his speech, Sagadiyev commended Rosmah for her continuous engagement in empowering women and supporting talented children.

"She is actively promoting the Permata project, a nationwide movement that strives for the development of early childhood education and care. Permata is a good example to improve the development of children and youth," he said.

Sagadiyev said that it was due to her contribution that the top professors in IITU agreed that Rosmah deserved to be awarded with the professorship.

Initiated in August 2005, Permata Negara is the early childhood education and care programme for underprivileged Malaysian children and was later expanded to serve their other needs.

PM inspired me

Rosmah, who is the patron of Permata, in her acceptance speech, thanked IITU for the honour conferred upon her and said it would serve as an encouragement to continue pursuing her work.

"I also accept this honour on behalf of all the wonderful people who have been working tirelessly with me to implement the Permata programme as an innovative and crucial component of the Malaysian education system.

"I would also like to thank my children and my husband, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who have been the source of inspiration and pillar of strength in motivating and enabling me to contribute to my country," she said.

Also present at today's ceremony were Malaysian Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim and the Malaysian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Ahmad Rasidi Hazizi.

IITU is the first university established by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to be the leader in information technology research and training of highly skilled and internationally recognised IT experts and professionals.

It has collaborated with several Malaysian universities, including Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten),

Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) and Multimedia University (MMU).

- Bernama