Want quality education for everyone?

The Story

WHAT IS IT FOR :
We are fundraising for all underprivileged students ( the B40 community ) to receive good quality education, as we believe that quality education should be accessible to everyone. There are many intelligent students but with not enough opportunities to learn so we hope to bring those to them. 

THE ISSUE :

Many malaysian students are lacking in their ability to read, to do math and science as shown by the study below 

As you can see, Malaysians also score way below average for Reading, Mathematics and Science in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 results. 

13% of children in late primary schools are not proficient in reading and 50% of 15-year-old Malaysians have a reading capability below their level.

These are also results unaffected by the covid situation, which means the scores could be significantly lower now. 

During covid times, 2020-2021, it was harder to provide good quality education to students, especially to the students in the B40 community as :  

• In person schooling was closed for 14 months with no access to learning without digital devices

• 4 out of 5 students faced the digital divide were from the B40 communities ( bottom 40% income group )  

meaning some B40 children did not have access to the devices needed to learn for a little more than a year 

( Source UNESCO; Untuk Malaysia ) 

I think we all could agree that learning online was challenging as it was a totally new environment which was very much less interactive than a typical classroom, but these B40 kids were suffering from probably even worse, as the comfort and productivity at home may not be as optimal. 

And so these B40 communities need our help more than ever to help them catch up and hopefully improve the overall quality education in malaysia. 

HOW ARE THE FUNDS USED : 

• fund our Sunway’s Speak Up Project 13.0, which helps hold workshops and classes for students in the B40 community.

• remaining funds will be used by AIESEC in Sunway to continue supporting and sustaining our future projects to help our community around Bandar Sunway + pay GivingHub’s 4.5% tax

HOW WE ARE MAKING A CHANGE - WHY U SHOULD DONATE :

Some would say, “why not search the internet, there are plenty of resources online!” but have forgotten the fact that they may not have access to the internet, or maybe even to a device, even with both, there is no one to help them to navigate through the confusing structure of the web and to use technology efficiently. 

That is why our project plays a beneficial role to these kids. We teach them to use simple tools such as Excel, to help them start discovering about how technology these days could do so many complicate functions with a click of a button, to inspire them to explore more of the internet and hopefully kick start their careers in fields which require these skills - giving them a chance to break the poverty cycle in their families. We hold other workshops too that focus on brushing up other skills - such as stress management, leadership development - holding challenges to improve their English speaking skills,  but this is an example of one of them we are holding.

Hopefully AIESEC could hold bigger projects that make a bigger impact in our education system but for the time being we believe that even helping a small group of children is creating a good enough impact to change the lives of many. 

MORE ABOUT US  :  

We are Megan and Annabel, from Sunway’s Speak Up Project 13.0.

Megan’s Story :

I was and currently still am a volunteer for MyReader’s Programme where you teach B40 children English at a one to one basis every saturday. At first I was nervous, thinking, “What if they are too difficult to handle? What if they don’t listen to me?” but I came to find out how well mannered and behaved they were. I thought it was pretty amazing how these kids were so attentive and enthusiastic about learning. The 10 year old student I was assigned to, Cecilia, was a wonder to work with. I didn't think I would have picked up words as quickly as she did at her age. I could see so many clever kids but so little resources to support their intelligent brains. It was sad to see how their minds were limited by their unfortunate situations.

( If you are curious to help out  - u can check out @my.readers on instagram to know more about it :)) 

Annabel's Story : 

During the pandemic, online schooling was introduced, and I could see everyone struggling to adapt to the new restrictions placed, some being my family members. As my cousin's family is big, it was tougher on them as they did not have as many gadgets to join online classes with, forcing them to use the devices alternatively. This had a tremendous impact on their education as they weren’t able to take all the necessary classes. As grades were falling, the chances of them getting a scholarship or even receiving higher education was dropping. 

Hence, we joined this project because we know we could make a change, AND YOU CAN TOO