HCM CITY (VNS) — Students at the primary school level should have early access to "maker training programs" to stimulate their creativity and thinking, a business professor said.
Speaking at the American Centre at the US Consulate, Rajesh Nair, director of Innovation Seven Entrepreneurship at the Asia School of Business in Kuala Lumpur, spoke about the program at the Maker Movement Promotion Forum on November 10.
Nair, founder of TechTop Innovation Competition India, said that maker training programs would help all students, particularly recent graduates seeking jobs in a competitive market.
The European Commission defines key competencies in 21stcentury skills as communication, science, technology, engineering and maths, STEM for short.
It also includes digital competence and a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship as well.
All of these skills are needed for makers, he added. Schools need an environment that will encourage the habit of creativity and critical thinking, he said, adding that this builds build self-confidence.
Schools should also teach students that through failure, they can learn and become more innovative. Nair said schools should carry out more maker programs to attract a new generation of students. Nguyen Viet Dung, director of the HCM City Department of Science and Technology, said that Viet Nam, particularly HCM City, had carried out many programs on science and technology between 2011 and 2015.
Research institutes and enterprises have also been involved in the programs with schools, he said.
Innovation and the application of science and technology has helped the city's gross domestic product increase an average of 9.6 per cent each year in the last five years, he said. During this period, the city invested 2.06 per cent of its yearly budget expenditures in the science and technology field. The city is also developing an ecosystem for startups, Dung said.