Daniel Lim
There is a common phrase that says ‘Learning is a life long journey’ – from toddlers learning to take their first steps to adults and the elderly learning a new skill they did not have the time to gain in the tpast.
These everyday learnings not only help to form the very foundation of an individual’s life, but also to supplement them. As such, many initiatives and efforts have been made over the years to help support learning as a lifelong endeavour.
One such initiative is the Lifelong Learning Centre (L3C) established by the Ministry of Education on September 23, 2019, which aims to celebrate the drive to accelerate and strengthen the country’s human resource development through lifelong learning.
Various programmes are conducted under the centre, all serving to disseminate information and knowledge pertaining to a wide set of skills and talents which include modern and intricate skills such as those related to Information and Communication Technology or (IT),
to skills that pertain to sustaining livelihood such as basic accountings and more.
The L3C in the Belait District recently conducted a cooking programme on various kuih and dish recipes aimed at those wishing to further expand their knowledge, especially around culinary-related skills.
Siti Hadijah binti Mohamed, one of the programme’s instructors in the district, is eager to share her in-depth experience and knowledge in cooking she has gained throughout the years.
She has been teaching how to cook for around 18 years and shared in an interview with the Borneo Bulletin that she previously taught as part of the Bahagian Pendidikan Lanjutan (BPL), which then shifted to L3C.
Her role in the programme has remained the same throughout, which is to help disseminate the know-how of cooking, especially in relation to the skills necessary for cooking as well as disseminating recipes to cook the dishes.
“Some dishes that we cook as part of the programme include Kuih Muih, various meat dishes such as chicken, beef, as well as rice,” she said.
In continuing to conduct the various cooking programmes under the L3C, she hopes that more students of all ages will be able to take the opportunities available to continue to further expand their knowledge in all fields of skill and talent, as the knowledge and skills gained from programmes such as this will help further enhance their daily lives.
One of the programme’s students, Faizah binti Ibrahim said the programme serves as a platform for many to further expand their existing knowledge and skills.
“This is the first time that I have participated in the programme. I joined after I heard from my friends about cooking classes being held,” she said.
She participated in the cooking programme to help add on to her existing cooking skills and to enhance it, especially on certain skills that she had yet to pick up.
“It’s a happy feeling, to learn things that we don’t know and to be able to make use of it after learning and acquiring the cooking skills,” she added.
Faizah said that the programme also gave her the opportunity to prepare new dishes at home for the family.She hopes that more people will be able to take advantage of such opportunities as well as other similar programmes, to further expand their knowledge as well as to fill up their free time by partaking in something productive such as learning a new skill or gaining new knowledge.
“I hope that this kind of cooking programme as well as other similar programmes will continue to be conducted in the future, as it serves to further enrich and encourage the continued learning for everyone.”
With such initiatives in place, programmes such as these will not only help to enhance existing skills as well as obtaining new skills, but also provide opportunities to use these new skills to enrich one’s daily livelihood, both in taking care of oneself and one’s family, as well as seeking new business ventures with their newly acquired skills.
