RECSAM 50th Anniversary Coffee Table Book

22 The New Millennium (Year 2000 – 2009) The new millennium saw the implementation phases of the Seventh (F.Y. 2000-2005) and Eighth (F.Y. 2005- 2010) Five-Year Plan of RECSAM. During this period, the Centre was beset with challenges when the former Director, Dr. Ab. Rahim bin Selamat was posted to Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB) in August 1999 and Mr. Tan Khun was appointed as the new Centre Director in September 1999. This period also witnessed the retirement of Mr. Tan Khun in 2003 and Dr. Azian T.S. Abdullah was appointed as the new Centre Director effective February 2004. During this period, RECSAM’s target- oriented programmes have taken into account the current and potential future changes which are crucial for the development of school-based curriculum in the relevant areas. The Centre has taken cognizance of the fact that new demands in educational reforms are emerging in the region, and that its expertise over the past three decades in in-service training in science, mathematics and technology education can ensure support for the new emerging trends and developments. The Centre’s two major staff development projects for the training of Malaysian teachers and educators in science, mathematics and technology education began in F.Y.1998/1999. Funds for the projects came from the Ministry of Education of Malaysia through the World Bank ESSP Loan and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, Malaysia. These projects went a long way towards the training of Malaysian teachers under different cohorts. The tenth and fi nal course for Malaysian teachers ended in July 2002. In response to requests from member countries and funding agencies and institutions, the Centre played a meaningful role in hosting customised courses to meet special needs. Most of these customised courses were held at the Centre. In the early training programmes, some courses have shared venues between RECSAM-IKIP (Semarang, Indonesia) for Indonesian participants and RECSAM-Montfort Teachers’ College (Thailand) for teachers of the college. Special tailor-made in-country programmes were also conducted for teachers/ educators from Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam during this period. At that time, all programmes were evaluated internally. Evaluation reports were also periodically submitted to the respective funding agencies. Course participants of all categories of courses have rated the programmes as being very satisfactory.