As UTAR was founded by the bedrock principle of “by the people, for the people”, it has always been at the forefront of giving back to the community via a plethora of social responsibility projects and initiatives. Among such initiatives and activities include the Centre for Foundation Studies’ (CFS) Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) Workshop which was held at UTAR Kampar Campus from 28 to 29 May 2019.
All smiles for a group photograph during the closing of the successful two-day workshop
Organised by CFS Kampar Campus in collaboration with Indian Cultural and Language Society (ICLS), the inaugural workshop aimed to prepare Tamil school students from Kinta Selatan district for UPSR success. The noble effort was also supported by the Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Kinta Selatan (PPDKS).
Supervised by CFS assistant lecturer-cum-Project Coordinator, Gangadurai Ganesan, the workshop saw more than 100 Tamil school students from a total of 10 Tamil primary schools, namely SJK (T) Mambang Di Awan, SJK (T) Ladang Kota Bahroe, SJK (T) Methodist Malim Nawar, SJK (T) Ladang Kampar, SJK (T) Ladang Kinta Valley, SJK (T) Changkat, SJK (T) Kampar, SJK (T) Gopeng, SJK (T) Bharathi and SJK (T) Tronoh having an enriching learning experience.
Young and the enthusiastic Year Six students are all ready for the workshop
Held as part of CFS Community Project 2019, the two-day comprehensive UPSR Workshop focused primarily on Year Six students to teach them the right skills in answering their upcoming exam papers, techniques for scoring high marks and also to show the students on how to discover their strengths and weaknesses. Among the subjects covered were Bahasa Malaysia, English, Tamil, Science and Mathematics.
“Aimed to foster academic excellence among rural schoolchildren, the very first UPSR Workshop by UTAR CFS is indeed a great success. Thank you UTAR, PPDKS, school headmasters and headmistresses, instructors, sponsors and the organising committee for your great support and alliance in making this programme a reality today,” said the Project Coordinator Gangadurai.
He added, “This is truly a community engagement and outreach initiative by CFS. We have always believed that education is the pillar of success for each individual. Hands-on workshop and practical knowledge are very important for young students to learn and master the subjects’ syllabi. Therefore, this workshop was organised on the basis to provide a holistic teaching and learning approach to primary school students in Kinta Selatan district. We believe this workshop had certainly served the purpose and helped the young students to attain and learn the right answering strategies and techniques for the examination.”
Malay subject instructor Saravanan advising the pupils to write short sentences to avoid making grammatical mistakes
The workshop exclusively brought a total of five instructors with over 10 years of teaching experience in teaching English, Tamil, Malay, Mathematics and Science papers in the Year Six UPSR examination. The instructors were A. Kavitha, M. Navin, S. Saravanan, Sadheeshkumar @ Kuang Leong Yee and G. Kumaran respectively.
Kumaran conducting Science workshop for the students
Sadheeshkumar teaching how to use easiest Mathematics concepts to students
Tamil subject workshop for students by Navin in progress
Commending the success of the workshop, Maswan said, “It’s heartening to see such a great effort aimed to coach the pupils before they sit for UPSR examination. The workshop was timely and indeed an educational one. He also complimented and thanked UTAR and the organising committee for their noble act in giving back to the society.
In her closing speech, CFS’s Director-cum-Senior Lecturer Tan Lee Siew emphasised, “UTAR CFS always believes in the power of education to improve lives in a fundamental way. Our team believes in equal opportunity and quality education for all, hence education is one of the pillars that we promote in our giving-back-to-the-community initiatives. This workshop is certainly to increase the motivation and success of Year Six students from rural area schools through education. In the big picture, the workshop also aims to develop bright students that are effectively prepared to meet future challenges.”
Tan emphasising on the importance of education to young students
A student from SJK (T) Ladang Kota Bahroe, Gopeng, M. Tavinya said, “The workshop was informative. I hope to get better results for my Mathematics papers as it is my weak subject. The workshop also taught how to avoid common and most importantly careless mistakes when answering exam questions. I would like to thank UTAR and the instructors for giving us the platform to enhance our skills and knowledge before the examination.”
Another student from SJK (T) Changkat G. Pravin said, “I feel that the programme was very good. I learnt a lot especially on how to answer questions using correct sentences and how to make fewer mistakes when writing essays in English. It gives me more confidence to answer the questions in the coming exam. Thank you to UTAR for giving us the right knowledge before we sit for the exam in September.”
Senior Assistant Teacher for Administration from SJK (T) Ladang Kota Bahroe, Gopeng, Malliny Jayaraman enthused, “The whole workshop was very helpful. The workshop was benefitting not only to the students but also the school teachers. It was also a great platform for teachers to learn the study tips and teaching/learning techniques from experienced mentors such as Mr Navin and Mr Saravanan. Besides learning the skills to answer exam questions, the students were also taught to identify their strengths and weaknesses. They were also taught of the ways to score high marks. I feel very elated and thank you UTAR and the organising committee for organising such a greateducational programme. I hope this kind of great activity could be continued in the future.”
SJK (T) Changkat Headmistress Katpagavalli Murugasu, added, “It was a great programme and we would like to thank UTAR and the organising committee for organising such an engaging workshop for our Tamil school students.”
After a series of successful workshops, the curtains were finally drawn for the CFS UPSR Workshop with a simple closing ceremony on 29 May 2019. Present at the closing ceremony were Director of CFS Tan, Head of Arts and Social Science Department of CFS A. Pakialetchumy, Gangadurai, Penolong PPD Akademik (Bahasa) Ahmad Maswan bin Ahmad Fuad, organising committee, CFS lecturers, school headmasters and headmistresses, school teachers, UTAR staff and students.
The workshop ended with a presentation of certificates by Tan to all the participants and a group photography session.
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