Uniformed Bodies Help Students to Confront the Job Market

Pauh Putra, December 3, 2016 - University students are encouraged to be actively involved in the uniformed bodies and extra-curricular activities because both are very important for the job market.

The advice was given by the National Sports Council director general Dato' Ahmad Shapawi Ismail when launched the opening ceremony of  the Festival of Martial Arts which organized by the Co-curriculum Centre, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) 2016 in collaboration with the National Sports Council and Perlis Sports Council in the Dewan Ilmu, today.

Ahmad Shapawi said that although the current participation in extracurricular activities is a mandatory requirement for graduation unlike those university days, however, students that take advantage will gain experience which will be useful in the future.

"Do not feel sorry or forced to participate in this kind of program, take the participation as a knowledge because through the program, it also trains you to be a leader.

"In addition, students can also acquire the experience of organising an event or program plus can learn to defend themselves, especially when the crime increasingly prevalent nowadays," he said.

Also present at the opening ceremony were the Director of UniMAP Co-curriculum Centre, Prof Dr Zaliman Sauli, Deputy Director of UniMAP Sports Centre, Nazmizan Muhammad, representative of the Perlis Sports Council, Noor Zaidi Hamad and coaches that involved in the martial arts.

Meanwhile, Dr Zaliman said for the first semester of 2016/2017 academic year, a total of 1320 students registered for the martial arts courses, while 805 students enrolled in sports such as archery, tennis, athletics, rugby and so on.

He said more than 800 students participated in the inaugural festival with 40 categories of competition involving Silat, Taekwondo and Karate-do.

"This is a breakthrough for UniMAP as it managed to gather many participants from the three martial arts because this is the first time.

"It also gives exposure to the students about different aspects of the organization of a tournament, as well as  strengthening the bond between them," he said when delivering an opening speech at the ceremony.