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The Star
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
‘Be serious about supporting students'
At the recent launch of the Sekolah Angkat Madani initiative, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek stated that education must not be viewed solely through the lens of infrastructure provision, but rather as a holistic ecosystem that meets the full spectrum of student needs. For many students in rural and underserved communities, the school building is only the beginning of their struggle. To realise this holistic vision, we must confront the less visible, yet deeply entrenched, barriers to educational access. One such barrier is safe and affordable transportation. For families in rural and low-income communities, getting a child to school can be a logistical and financial challenge, sometimes costing up to RM30 a day as pointed out by the minister in her address. This, repeated over months, becomes insurmountable for many, contributing to absenteeism and dropouts. This is where Malaysia must reconceptualise transportation support, not as a marginal welfare concern, but as a foundational pillar of educational equity. Solutions do exist so we need not start from scratch. Around the world, governments facing similar challenges have introduced innovative transport policies that offer useful lessons for Malaysia. In Tamil Nadu, India, the state's school bus system provides free transport to rural students, boosting attendance and reducing dropout rates, particularly among girls. Similarly, South Africa's Scholar Transport Programme funds travel for students living more than 5km from school, contracting private providers under strict oversight to ensure both access and accountability. We could adopt similar models or empower schools to manage their own transport services. Whether through direct subsidies or school-led initiatives, the goal must be that no child is denied education because the journey is too costly or unsafe. Another concern to address is hunger, which remains an underestimated barrier to meaningful learning. According to the Global Child Nutrition Foundation's 2024 Global Survey on school feeding, Malaysia's programmes currently reach only 25% of primary and a mere 1% of secondary students. This limited coverage is not just a nutritional gap; it is a missed strategic lever for advancing educational equity. Initiatives like Super Sarapan, which delivered over 170,000 meals to B40 students in 2023, show what's possible. These efforts must be scaled nationally, to ensure that no child learns on an empty stomach. Academic support is equally vital. Students who fall behind need structured remedial programmes led by capable, motivated teachers. These educators deserve fair compensation and recognition. NGOs like Teach For Malaysia and Yayasan Amir are already filling critical gaps. Their work should be formalised through long-term partnerships with schools, aligned with national goals. Access to education cannot be reduced to physical entry alone; it must also guarantee the right to meaningful learning. And at the centre of this guarantee is the teacher. No matter how well-resourced a school may be, the quality of instruction ultimately determines whether students engage, progress and succeed. In this sense, access and teaching excellence are inseparable. Malaysia already has strong foundations for continuous professional development but to fully realise their potential, these efforts must be embedded not just into policy, but also into the everyday school life. If we are serious about access, we must be serious about support. True access means students can remain and thrive in school. It means building a system that supports, nourishes and empowers every child. PROF DR SIVABALA NAIDU and DR AMANPREET KAUR Faculty of Social Sciences Quest International University
Business Wire
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Bethany Children's Health Center Partners with Cohesity to Strengthen Patient Data Security and Care
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cohesity, the leader in AI-powered data security, today announced that Bethany Children's Health Center, a premier pediatric healthcare facility dedicated to providing exceptional care for children with complex medical needs, has chosen the Cohesity Data Cloud to enhance patient data security and streamline operations. Cyber threats against healthcare organizations are on the rise—according to Cohesity's 2024 Global Survey, 23% of government and public service organizations were impacted by cyberattacks. Using Cohesity, Bethany Children's has transformed its data protection and restoration processes, ensuring patient data is secure and operations can be restored quickly and efficiently. .@Cohesity announced that @bethanychildrns, a premier pediatric healthcare facility dedicated to providing exceptional care for children with complex medical needs, has chosen the Cohesity Data Cloud to enhance patient data security & streamline operations Share 'Our goal is to provide the best care for every child who walks through our doors, and a key part of that commitment is ensuring their health information is both protected and accessible,' said Kevin Chambers, Chief Information Executive, Bethany Children's Health Center. 'Partnering with Cohesity has strengthened our security posture and improved our ability to respond to potential threats.' Prior to implementing the Cohesity Data Cloud, Bethany Children's was challenged by time-consuming and complex data backup and restoration workflows. These inefficiencies made it difficult to quickly restore services in the event of an incident, potentially impacting patient care. With Cohesity, the organization has streamlined these processes and enhanced its resilience against cyber threats. Bethany Children's now benefits from a centralized dashboard that provides a comprehensive view of their data and backup environment, while immutable backups and AI-driven threat detection and alerting provide an additional layer of security. 'Restoring our data was a complicated process before Cohesity. Now, it's streamlined, quick, and efficient, and we have extra resilience with cyber vaulting and AI-powered alerts to potential threats,' said Chambers. 'With Cohesity as our partner, our data is more secure and can be restored faster and more efficiently, ensuring uninterrupted patient care.' Bethany Children's is also in the early stages of implementing Cohesity's Gaia enterprise knowledge discovery assistant as part of its broader initiative to leverage AI-driven innovations for optimizing patient care. This will enable the health center to manage and utilize data more effectively across the organization. 'Bethany Children's Health Center is a shining example of the best in healthcare– dedication, compassion, and a commitment to providing life-changing care to children,' said Kit Beall, Chief Revenue Officer, Cohesity. 'Cyber threats against healthcare organizations continue to rise, making data protection critical. Protecting the data of such vital organizations is an enormous responsibility, and we're proud to be a trusted partner of healthcare organizations across the world. With Cohesity ensuring their data is always secure and accessible, healthcare providers can focus on delivering life-changing care.' For more information about how Cohesity is helping Bethany Children's Health Center streamline its cyber resilience processes to enhance patient data security, watch our video. About Cohesity Cohesity is the leader in AI-powered data security. Over 13,600 enterprise customers, including over 85 of the Fortune 100 and nearly 70% of the Global 500, rely on Cohesity to strengthen their resilience while providing Gen AI insights into their vast amounts of data. Formed from the combination of Cohesity with Veritas' enterprise data protection business, the company's solutions secure and protect data on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge. Backed by NVIDIA, IBM, HPE, Cisco, AWS, Google Cloud, and others, Cohesity is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with offices around the globe. To learn more, follow Cohesity on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.
