Message from the Director General of Education on the UNICEF-ARCCADE Mentoring Malaysia Project

For the UN Recognition Ceremony on 25 August 2007.

It gives me great pleasure to write this message for the United Nations Recognition Ceremony of Mentoring Malaysia. As The Ministry of Education strives to achieve the Educational Development Plan 2006-2010 towards world-class education, we welcome efforts from all quarters that complement efforts of the Ministry to provide holistic education for children in this country.

Adolescence is a time of much cognitive and emotional development. We need to assist our young as this period is filled with opportunities to develop themselves in positive directions. I am grateful to the Asian Research Center for Child & Adolescent Development (ARCCADE) for developing Mentoring Malaysia, and to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for funding pilot schools in the Klang Valley. It is truly encouraging that schools and universities such as HELP University College and community partners are working together for the betterment of school children in this country.

The Ministry of Education will continue to support efforts in promoting mentoring as a means towards positive adolescent development as ARCCADE embarks on extending Mentoring Malaysia for another 3 years. We welcome the participation of expertise in this country that have the psychosocial well-being of our children at heart, and want to encourage greater involvement of mental health professionals that can add value to the programmes offered by the Ministry of Education.

To undergraduate youth and volunteers on this project, we thank you for your sacrifices. And to our teenagers in schools, we encourage you to look towards positive role models who can support you in your life and in your education.

Thank you.

Yg. Bhg. Dato’ Haji Alimuddin bin Mohd Dom

Director General of Education Malaysia