5+ hour, 8+ min ago (808+ words) KUALA LUMPUR: Behind every success is a great support system, especially if someone is going through the rigorous process of earning a PhD. More so if they do not have the same capabilities as everyone else. Dr Noorilham Ismail, 35, who is visually impaired, said it was thanks to the help he got that he had managed to complete his PhD. While he could manage writing a big part of his thesis on his own, he said his wife, Zarifah Arsani, 31, helped him with the technical parts, including the footnotes and bibliography. She also followed him on his research trips to the United States of America (US) and the United Kingdom in 2023 to scour the archives there for information on his thesis. Noorilham had become visually impaired about eight years ago when a severe fever damaged his eyes. He was conferred…...

12+ hour, 9+ min ago (597+ words) Monday, 01 Dec 2025 Well done: Sim congratulating Noorilham at the convocation ceremony in Universiti Malaya. Looking on are his wife Zarifah (left) and mother Salimah Kasim (right). " RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star Visually impaired lecturer graduates after years of struggle, sacrifice and support KUALA LUMPUR: Behind every success is a great support system, what more if one undertakes the rigorous process of earning a PhD. More so if they do not have the same capabilities as everyone else. For visually impaired Noorilham Ismail, 35, it meant the world to get all the help needed to complete his doctorate. While he managed writing a big part of his thesis, his 31-year-old wife Zarifah Arsani helped with the technical parts, including footnotes and bibliography. She also tagged along on his research trips to the United States and United Kingdom in 2023 to scour archives for…...

14+ hour, 12+ min ago (904+ words) Beijing has frozen youth exchange programmes with Tokyo amid the fallout over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks on Taiwan, according to a diplomatic source, raising concern that the bilateral rift could affect younger generations. The Japanese side was told about the cancelled programmes after China launched retaliatory measures against Japan over Takaichi's comments earlier this month, the source said. "Usually, November and December are the season for youth exchanges, but now they have all been called off," the source said. Beijing has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on Japan, seeking to force Takaichi to retract her November 7 remarks suggesting that Tokyo could deploy military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Takaichi has refused to do so. As part of that pressure, China has asked its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan and told…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (889+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 When a company underperforms, its chief executive officer (CEO) is expected to pivot, innovate, and steer the organisation back on course. Yet in education, the role of a school leader is often seen through a narrower lens. According to Global School Leaders chief of partnerships Animesh Priya, it's time to shift that mindset. Global School Leaders is a non-profit organisation that works with partners in low- and middle-school countries to train school leaders, generate evidence about the impact of school leadership training on student outcomes, and create a global network of organisations. School heads, he said, should be recognised as the CEOs of their institutions - expected to align values, set a clear vision, and deliver measurable results. "We should identify and trust the right school leaders, appoint them thoughtfully, and hold them accountable for what truly matters - student…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (374+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 Learning to be money wise: Students participating in a simulation game at the FFL 2025 Summit. Now in its seventh edition, the Fun(d) for Life (FFL) programme continues to empower youth with financial resilience through gamification and hands-on activities. These ranged from organising budgeting carnivals in Sabah and peer-to-peer savings challenges in Kedah to launching awareness campaigns in schools and developing simple tools to help classmates track expenses in Terengganu. From these showcases, 100 outstanding students were selected to form the inaugural FFL Student Council, representing schools nationwide. At the four-day FFL 2025 Summit, held at UTM Hotel & Residences in Kuala Lumpur, the student council received facilitator training, conducted simulation workshops, and led gamified sessions on budgeting, saving, smart spending, and protection. Through these sessions, the 100 council members directly engaged with 100 fellow students from the Klang Valley. Their role reflects an…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (738+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 Celebrating excellence: (From left) Samuel, Education deputy director-general (Education Operation Sector) Zainal Abas, Siti Ainulmursyida, Chew, Siti Kamariah and ECM Libra Foundation trustee Lim Beng Choon at the award ceremony. True education goes beyond exams; it lies in preparing students to be independent and confident in facing the world. It was this conviction that led to Siti Ainulmursyida Shamsudin being awarded the Malaysia Teacher Prize (MTP) 2025 recently. The special education teacher from SMK Orkid Desa, Kuala Lumpur, was recognised for developing the PEKA OKU digital platform, which had benefited over 300 students nationwide by providing scholarship, training and career opportunities through an AI chatbot. Under Siti Ainulmursyida's guidance, students represented Malaysia at the Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities, winning multiple international awards, including gold medals. Her triumph at the MTP Summit 2025 grand finale in Selangor on Nov…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (489+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 Before and after: The gym was redesigned with new flooring, better ventilation, designated training zones and modern equipment. STUDENT commitments can be overwhelming " subjects to master, assignments to complete, examinations to prepare for, not to mention extracurricular activities to participate in. But for Muhammad Aufa Eizdihar Khairul Ariffin and Ejaz Roslan, two Form Five students at Kolej Yayasan Saad Melaka (KYSM), these demands did not deter them from going a step further in the face of necessary change. Recognising that their boarding school gym was in need of a makeover, the duo galvanised their schoolmates to kickstart a project to renovate the facility. The effort saw them involved in every stage, from conception to completion, including fundraising, negotiations, logistics management and legal documentation. Recently opened for student use, the renovated facility, completed within two years from 2023 to this…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (269+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 Happy retirement: Zahara cutting a cake during her farewell at the school. "Be obedient to your parents and teachers because they are the keys to success." Those were Zahara Abd Majid's parting words to the students of SMK Dato' Shahardin (SMKDS), Negri Sembilan, as the school's most senior language teacher. Students, she added, need to obey school rules and study hard to achieve their goals in life. Her advice for aspiring teachers is to cultivate interest and sincerity in their teaching and to treat students as their own children. Always remain calm and patient when facing problems with students, she said. Born in Labu, Negri Sembilan, the Malay Language teacher recently retired at the age of 60. Zahara, whose motto in life is to make today better than yesterday and to be of benefit to others, obtained her Teaching…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (517+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 A fast food chain goes viral after worms were found in its fried chicken " what now? That was the challenge facing some 80 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) students from its School of Communication in Penang when they were assigned to take on the role of media practitioners during the Khazanah Residency Programme (KRP) "POV: Your work in comms" outreach initiative on Nov 5. The mentors are Khazanah National Wolfson Press Fellowship (KNWPF) participants who had previously attended a fully-sponsored 10-week prestigious programme at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Describing the full-day session as "very interesting", digital communication student Jasmine Shameena Shabri Ali, 22, said the students learnt a lot about a myriad of topics ranging from investor relations, internal communications, and public relations to journalism and media relations. She said the activities gave participants an understanding of the realities of the…...

23+ hour, 9+ min ago (762+ words) Sunday, 30 Nov 2025 WITH artificial intelligence (AI) being applied in medical schools, students need to be taught to be sceptical and responsible users of these tools, emphasises Dr Manraj Singh Cheema (pic). "In clinical settings, the risk is even greater if a student blindly accepts an AI's diagnostic suggestion without verifying it; that can lead to real harm," the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences senior lecturer in molecular toxicology told StarEdu. Manraj, a recent recipient of the Teaching Award in the Health Sciences category, bestowed by the Higher Education Ministry at the 16th National Academic Awards, added that in medicine, the danger of automation bias " the tendency to trust AI output even when it is flawed " could mean missing a rare diagnosis because the algorithm was trained on common cases. "To guard against this, we need better…...