Feature Stories – Education – The Hasanah Report 2018

feature stories | Education

A RIPPLE BECOMES A WAVE

Over the years, Yayasan Khazanah (YK) has groomed regional talents by offering scholarships to pursue studies at Malaysia’s premier universities or at the world’s renowned institutions of higher learning.

Over the years, Yayasan Khazanah (YK) has groomed regional talents by offering scholarships to pursue studies at Malaysia's premier universities or at the world's renowned institutions of higher learning.

One example is Nelson Ng Jia Jun who has come a long way from his childhood in a fishing village in Johor as the first-generation university student of his family.

Ng, who is currently completing his Master of Engineering in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of Southampton – Malaysia Campus, has gone above and beyond academics to help fellow Malaysian students pursue their education dream.

“Without the scholarship from Yayasan Khazanah, I would not have founded ProjectEd, a student-led non-governmental organisation (NGO) which strives to tackle education inequality in Malaysia by empowering underprivileged students to pursue their tertiary education dreams through digital mentorships, scholarships opportunities and educational workshops.”

Nelson Ng Jia Jun

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To date, ProjectEd has awarded over RM12,000 worth of scholarships and impacted over 200 students. “As a scholar of the nation, I am always in search of ways to contribute back to the community.”

The idea for ProjectEd stems from Ng’s own challenges faced during his studies. Ng was initially enrolled under a bursary programme while pursuing his current course. Unfortunately, the programme ceased to operate, causing Ng to contemplate dropping out in the first year of his course.

“When the bursary programme stopped, I was in total despair that my tertiary education dream would not be achieved due to my family’s financial issue. I would envision myself having to start work and earn minimum wages to make ends meet,” he reminisced.

Ng then applied for the Khazanah Watan Scholarship and was one of the lucky recipients. Taking that experience to heart, Ng aspires to reach out to more Malaysians to create sustainable impacts in tackling education inequality in the nation.

A Helping Hand to all

Aside from Malaysians, students from around Asia were also invited to pursue their tertiary education dreams through the Khazanah Asia Scholarship programme.

For Nasri Hayima, a student from Narathiwat, Thailand, his dream of pursuing tertiary education appeared to be out of reach despite getting good grades in school.

“My parents are farmers in Narathiwat, Thailand. Due to my family’s financial constraints, I was not able to further my studies.”

The former Sekolah Menengah Agama Persekutuan Kajang alumni obtained 10As in his SPM examination and was among the first batch recipients of the Khazanah Asia Scholarship – South Thai programme that commenced in 2014.

The programme provided scholarships to students with excellent leadership qualities and outstanding achievements in academic and extracurricular activities.

Today, Nasri is pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) at Multimedia University, Cyberjaya.

The scholarship, he said, has helped his family as his parents are now able to support his two younger siblings in their studies.

Unlike some of his peers who have to take on part-time jobs to pay for their tuition fee, the scholarship has also allowed him to focus on his study while pursuing extracurricular activities, such as participating in the various clubs and sports offered by the university.

Similar to Nelson’s aim to give back to society via ProjectEd, Nasri too has plans to help his community upon graduation.

The team (Yayasan Khazanah) has always reminded us on the importance of serving our community and nation.” After his graduation, he plans to work in Malaysia for a few years before returning home to serve his nation.

Nasri Hayima

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After his graduation, Nasri plans to work in Malaysia for a few years before returning home to serve his nation.

Aside from scholarships, YK also provides leadership and character development programmes to its scholars.

This is with the aspiration that one day, these scholars will take on high-level positions in the best organisations including government-linked companies (GLCs) in Malaysia.

feature stories | Education

Programming for tomorrow

Chumbaka’s programme with schools in Perlis was to close the digital gap between rural and urban schools. Since its establishment in 2014, Chumbaka’s programmes have benefited and impacted more than 10,000 children nationwide.

“I am not proud of our achievements last year as there are much more to achieve. We want to come back this year and do better!”

Those are the words of Hamidah Abdul Rahman, a physics teacher from SMK Agama Arau, Perlis.

She was part of the Hasanah-funded Chumbaka programme in 2018 where teachers from Perlis were taught Arduino programming, an open-source prototyping platform that enables users to create interactive electronic objects.

Those are the words of Hamidah Abdul Rahman, a physics teacher from SMK Agama Arau, Perlis.

She was part of the Hasanah-funded Chumbaka programme in 2018 where teachers from Perlis were taught Arduino programming, an open-source prototyping platform that enables users to create interactive electronic objects.

Teachers were then tasked to share the knowledge with their students and come up with a product that they could showcase at technology and innovation competitions.

Hamidah’s students created a portable air filter and ventilator system which went on to win two silver medals at the International Eureka Innovation Exhibition 2018. It was an impressive feat seeing that they only had a few months to learn programming and develop a prototype.

“I think the key milestone for the first year of this program is actually seeing teachers’ mindset change in learning new things and not taking the back bench when it comes to coaching their students and passing down the knowledge that they have learnt during the Train-The-Trainers (TTT),”

Eunice Ooi

Chumbaka business manager

Chumbaka’s programme with schools in Perlis was aims to bridge the digital gap between rural and urban schools. Since its establishment in 2014, Chumbaka’s programmes have benefited and impacted more than 10,000 children nationwide.

As the program progressed, teachers got excited and was keen to participate in the Young Innovators Challenge Competition (YIC) organised by Chumbaka.

“It was not a requirement for schools to participate in YIC but more half than of the schools in this programme participated at the state level competition” recalls Ooi.

Opening many doors

For Aswazir bin Azmi and Abdul Rahim bin Abustan, teachers of SMK Tengku Budriah, taking part in Chumbaka’s programme has opened many doors for their students to compete at national level competitions.

“Although we failed during the 2018 Young Innovators Challenge organised by Chumbaka, we managed to redeem ourselves by winning other competitions, said Aswazir.

Their team created an alarm system that will alert car owners if they have left their children in the back seat before exiting their vehicle.

The system was developed from Chumbaka’s Arduino programme and won the gold medal at the Selangor Innovation and Creativity Exposition 2018.

They also bagged the gold medal at the International Eureka Innovation Exhibition 2018.

These days, innovation is not just a buzz word in school, it is a way of life. The principal of SMK Tengku Budriah has allocated an Innovation Room for Aswazir, Abdul Rahim and their students to work on their projects.

“Our students, who prepared presentation slides and videos for the innovation competition, are now sharing these skills with other teachers and students. It has changed how we approach learning in the 21st century,” said Aswazir.

feature stories | Education

A RIPPLE BECOMES A WAVE​

Over the years, Yayasan Khazanah (YK) has groomed regional talents by offering scholarships to pursue studies at Malaysia's premier universities or at the world's renowned institutions of higher learning.

Nelson Ng Jia Jun

A Helping Hand to all

Aside from Malaysians, students from around Asia were also invited to pursue their tertiary education dreams through the Khazanah Asia Scholarship programme.

Nasri Hayima

feature stories | Education

Programming for tomorrow

“I am not proud of our achievements last year as there are much more to achieve. We want to come back this year and do better!”

Opening many doors

“Although we failed during the 2018 Young Innovators Challenge organised by Chumbaka, we managed to redeem ourselves by winning other competitions, said Aswazir.

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A RIPPLE BECOMES A WAVE