Having joined hands since 2014, UTAR New Village Collaborative Project and ECM Libra Foundation, has continuously enhanced learning and skills acquiring for various primary schoolchildren across Perak and Selangor’s New Villages.

The duo jointly organised a series of comprehensive English, Bahasa Malaysia, and Information Technology (IT) programmes. These tuition programmes were aimed at improving schoolchildren’s languages and IT skills. The tuition programmes were also designed to help the students feel more confident and to provide them a platform for them to do necessary preparations for their Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and their school final term examinations.

In view of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by United Nation (UN), the tuition programmes also ensures that the schoolchildren continuously receive quality education and are equipped with essential knowledge. The IT skills particularly, has been said to be important for schoolchildren to overcome 21st challenges, as well as to prepare them for jobs that have not even existed. As some schools also face shortages of resources in doing that, the tuition programme has enabled schoolchildren to acquire the right skillset and gained lifelong learning opportunities, and has even bridged the gap between urban schools and rural schools.

In the most recent closing ceremony of the tuition programme held on 23 November 2019 at UTAR Kampar Campus, ECM Libra Foundation Board of Trustee Lim Beng Choon reemphasised the importance of English and Bahasa Malaysia.

“It is always fundamental for ECM Libra Foundation to help students in need to receive a quality education and indeed we feel education is an important component that will help in ensuring sustainable societal development. The purpose ECM Libra Foundation constantly provides English tuition programme to schoolchildren from new villages is to create awareness in the community and the parents that learning English can help the children to learn through more channels and sources. Grasping English can also be a huge benefit to help the children grow greater communication ability, in addition to accessing wider sources of information. I would like to encourage school students to take full advantage of the programme and embrace English to be a global leader in the future. Additionally, Bahasa Malaysia is also equally important as it is the national language of Malaysia. As a Malaysian, we should take pride in our national language and it is seen as an essential tool in promoting a sense of national identity. Therefore, we would also like to encourage the schoolchildren specifically from vernacular school to learn and master the Bahasa Malaysia as well,” explained Lim.

UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong spoke of the tuition programme as an educational opportunity for schoolchildren. “As a university by the people, for the people, we have always aim to provide quality education to students. Education is able to transform lives of many and broaden their horizons that they can contribute in building a brighter and better tomorrow. The programme is indeed an excellent an creative way to nurture young learners and UTAR students to progress further,” said Prof Choong.

The English and Bahasa Malaysia Tuition programmes focused primarily on the teaching of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills to the school students. Apart from indoor learning, the students also engaged in interactive activities such as storytelling, grammar lessons, English language-related games, reading aloud, and singing action songs to stimulate students’ interest in English and Bahasa Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the components of the IT Tuition programme involved indoor class training on some basic programming and animation skills. The tuition programmes were conceptualised as an educational yet enjoyable platform to encourage young schoolchildren to be dynamic, creative and innovative.

J. Sonisha, an English Education student volunteer for the 2017 programme complimented the effort. “The tuition programmes was a good platform for student volunteers to learn and practice in the real working environment even before we graduate as an educator. I gained more experience in the art of teaching, and I developed the spirit of volunteerism and was able to put to practice the theories of teaching and learning among the young schoolchildren. The programme also helped me to understand different types of behaviours of children and it was very helpful in becoming effective in guiding and nurturing them. In addition to that, the programme also served as a learning platform for me in understanding the skills of class management. This programme should be continued in order to help more students to learn and receive proper guidance from educators. Therefore, I would like to advise more English Education students to join this programme in order to help the students as well as to encounter the real-life situation that a teacher may face instead of depending only on the teaching papers in the course structure.”

ECM Libra Foundation was incorporated on 30 October 2004 as a charitable organisation by its Founders, namely Dato’ Seri Kalimullah bin Hassan , Lim Kian Onn and Dato’ Chua Ming Huat, with the objective of providing financial assistance for educational purposes for underprivileged Malaysians, irrespective of race, religion or creed. The Founders believe that education is the key to escaping the clutches of poverty and hardship; that education is the way to forge the workforce to take Malaysia to the next level; and that education is the best way to give people a hope and a dream. For more information, please go to www.ecmlibrafoundation.com.