16 We Care Programme: Uplift and Educational Support at Bondulu Children’s Home
Toboh, Tambunan, Sabah, Malaysia
Wong Sing Yun1, Suddin Lada2*, Brahim Chekima3, Siti Nor Bayaah Ahmad4, Rudy Ansar5, Faerozh Madli6, Mat Salleh Ayub7
Faculty of Business, Economics & Accountancy Universiti Malaysia Sabah
*suddin@ums.edu.my
Received: 24th September 2023/Accepted: 25th September 2023/Published online: 27th September 2023
ABSTRACT
Purpose - This Community Project’s major goal is to uplift and provide educational support to the underprivileged students in the Needy Children’s Home of Bondulu, Toboh Tambunan. This initiative also aims to motivate and encourage the students to attain a higher level of educational achievement.
Methods – Conducting workshops and motivation sessions on educational support to students in need. Through such sessions, students are shared with important information such as courses offered, course entry requirements, career opportunities, etc. Next, interactive activities are carried out to encourage students’ participation and to obtain intuitive education-related information from the students’.
Result and discussions – Students from the Needy Home are better informed of the courses offered, the entry requirements and the career pathway available. They become highly motivated as they are exposed to the educational opportunities available to them upon completing their secondary education.
Conclusion – In conclusion, the community project achieved its objectives in increasing the student’s knowledge of the education opportunities available to them and to be highly motivated to continue to a higher education level. Besides that, this project also helps the students to build higher self-esteem and to become highly motivated in pursuing higher education. This will assist the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 which aims at ensuring equal access to all levels of education for the vulnerable.
Keywords: community, education, motivation, students, sustainable development goal (SDG)
INTRODUCTION
In September 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly as part of the Agenda 2030. The SDGs are made up of 17 goals covering all aspects of sustainability and are an ambitious step toward actionable targets for sustainable development (Fleming et al., 2017). The move to uplift education for needy children through this programme primarily aimed at attaining Goal 4 (Quality Education). Goal 4 calls for quality education to be provided for all in an effort to create a peaceful and prosperous world. A good education will provide people with the knowledge and skills needed for them to stay healthy, get employed and foster tolerance (United Nations, n.d.). Education promotes socioeconomic mobility and is essential for avoiding poverty. Besides that, education is essential to promoting tolerance and more peaceful communities because it helps eliminate disparities and achieve gender
17 equality. The objective of the goal is, therefore, to support lifelong learning and provide inclusive, high-quality education for all.
While there have been significant improvements in education access and enrolment in Malaysia, there are still several challenges to achieving SDG 4. Some of the challenges faced by Malaysia in achieving SDG 4 include:
(i) Education inequality: While Malaysia has made significant strides in increasing access to education, there are still inequalities in terms of education quality and access. Children from poorer families, rural areas, and indigenous communities have lower access to quality education.
(ii) Limited access to early childhood education: Access to early childhood education is limited, particularly for children from low-income families. This can affect a child's future development and educational outcomes.
(iii) Quality of education: While there has been an increase in education enrolment, there are concerns about the quality of education in Malaysia. The quality of education is affected by several factors, including teacher training and skills, curriculum, and teaching materials.
(iv) Low completion rates: There is a significant gap between enrolment rates and completion rates in Malaysia, with many students dropping out of school before completing their education. This is particularly true for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Meanwhile, it has been pointed out by Boeren (2019) that cooperation between a wide range of stakeholders should be encouraged to increase educational quality. Where appropriate, there may be an emphasis on raising awareness of the importance of education in connection to SDG 17 while also deepening the role of effective partnerships. According to Ferguson (2020), higher education institutions (HEIs) have a critical role to play concerning the achievement of the SDGs. For instance, HEIs can play an active role through aspects such as training and capacity building of students on sustainability, through inter-disciplinary collaborations, innovations and problem-solving, through their outreach and public awareness activities. Similarly, Leal Filho et al.
(2019) posited that HEIs have a moral obligation to contribute to society as a whole. Likewise, Franco et al. (2018) agreed that the role of HEIs is crucial and that their social responsibility is in need to foster competencies for sustainable development.
The community programme conducted to uplift the education of needy children has emphasized increasing access to education and fostering partnerships. It will also be a form of education support program for vulnerable children in the home with the following aims: (1) Ensuring that all children have access to education that they may not have been able to afford otherwise. This can help to break the cycle of poverty and provide opportunities for a better future.
(2) With access to educational resources and support, needy children may be able to perform better in school. This can improve their chances of securing better employment opportunities in the future. (3) Education can provide a sense of purpose and achievement for needy children, which can boost their self-esteem and confidence. This can help them to overcome the trauma and loss associated with being apart from their families. (4) Next, this programme can provide orphans with a sense of belonging and community, which can help to reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness. (5) Lastly, it is hoped that the programme can empower needy children by providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the world and make informed decisions about their lives.
18 METHOD
Through this community engagement, the needy students in Bondulu Toboh are reached out with the main aim to empower them with the necessary knowledge, skills and opportunities.
This program consisted of 2 modules involving 22 participants and 8 facilitators. The program takes the form of a career talk by an academic and is then supplemented by activities with the participants through the subsequent motivational team-building module. The following tentative shows how the program has been conducted.
Table 1. Program Schedule
TIME PROGRAMME
8.00 am - 8.30 am Registration
8.30 am -10.30 am ‘Selangkah ke Menara Gading’ Module 10.30 am – 12.30 pm Self-Empowerment Module
12.30 pm – 1.30 pm Lunch
1.30 pm Closing (Certificate & Momento Presentation)
In the first module, the students are provided with important information about the different education paths and use this information to make an informed decision about their future. The talk featured by the expert will further inspire and motivate the student. Students will become better informed of the many opportunities available to them and so able to maximise their full potential.
Next, students are engaged through the second module of learning which helps to boost their self-esteem and confidence level. The participation of the students in the team building activities will instil high-quality leadership and good management skills. The development of such soft skills is important for them to be successful in the future. In the second module, students are invited to participate in the ‘Great Wall Games’. Through this activity, students are encouraged to uplift themselves and to promote higher self-esteem in achieving personal goals. In this activity, students are:
(1) Give 10 minutes to complete the inventory questions that have been developed based on the Modified Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Inventory.
(2) A ‘Great Wall’ (in this activity, we replaced it with Mt. Kinabalu) picture is distributed to each group. 10 stations are marked on the picture.
(3) Stickers are provided to each group.
(4) Based on the score obtained from the inventory questions, each participant is to place their stickers on the respective stations.
(5) The facilitator then explained the interpretation of the programme outcome
The next activity was carried out known as ‘Tongkat Sakti’ which required students to perform a role-play and short sketch. In this activity, students need to work in a group by performing a role-play short drama by changing their character to a better character. This allows the participants to reflect based on the role-play on how they can change their old bad habits into developing a better character. Lastly, the activity of ‘Lepaskan Aku’ is for students to do a short self-reflection by writing down all their bad habits in the given balloon. They are then asked to blow on the balloon and to release it as a vow to change these bad habits.
Besides that, survey questionnaires were used to understand better the students’ needs and to gauge the overall effectiveness of the modules carried out through the responses given by the
19 participants. Figure 1 shows a copy of the questionnaire distributed to the participants for this purpose. In the questionnaires, the students are asked the following questions: (1) Knowledge of self-confidence level, (2) Confidence in future decision-making, (3) Ability to use the right channel for future planning, (4) Strong ability to understand one’s strength and value, (5) Knowledge in applying digital skills for future employment seeking opportunities.
Figure 1. Questionnaires Distributed RESULTS
Education programs are essential for students of poor backgrounds as they are vulnerable to education loss. Hence, implementing a community programme on uplifting education support for needy children can empower them with knowledge and awareness of the opportunities available for them to take on. This programme involves 2 learning modules. The first involves providing educational information and motivation to the students. Students are encouraged to pursue the field of interest in their future study endeavours. Through this program, students become more aware of the opportunities available to them. Figure 2 shows the first module session with the facilitator sharing crucial educational information with the students.
20 Figure 2. Motivation Talk by Facilitator
In the next module, facilitators interacted with the students by carrying out some interesting activities. One of the activities is known as ‘Great Wall Games’. In this activity, a set of questionnaires are distributed for the students to answer. The questions are outlined based on the Modified Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Inventory concept. Students are asked to indicate the scale of their perception for each instrument measured. Point values are then assigned based on their chosen answers for each respective instrument. The scores are then summed and the range of the scores is analysed accordingly. Students are then given educational advice based on the scores they obtained in this activity. Figure 3 shows facilitators interacting with students as they answer the given set of questionnaires. Meanwhile, Figure 4 shows the poster of the ‘Great Wall’ with students putting stickers to map their scores to the respective stations.
21 Figure 3. Program Activity ‘Great Wall Games’
Figure 4. Great Wall Games
22 Next, the students are engaged in another activity known as ‘Tongkat Sakti’ which involves building teamwork. This team-building activity involves a short-acting performance by each group.
In this activity, students in a group are guided in brainstorming a short act that tells a story of turning a new leaf. There should be a moral lesson that involves converting a bad character into a good character in the short term. This allows the students to reflect on the lesson learnt from the short-acting and at the same time allows the students to build on their teamwork. Figure 5 shows the facilitator guiding and briefing the students on how to conduct the activity.
Figure 5. Program Activity ‘Tongkat Sakti’
The last activity known as ‘Lepaskan Aku’ is a symbolic game that allows students to share their negative emotions. In this activity, students are given the platform to voluntarily share their thoughts. Each student is given a balloon for them to write their negative behaviour that needs changing. Once done, they are allowed to share what they have written with the others. After that, they are then asked to burst the balloon as a symbolic meaning to put an end to this negative behaviour. Figure 6 shows the programme ‘Lepaskan Aku’ being conducted and Figure 7 shows the sharing session by the students.
23 Figure 6. Program Activity ‘Lepaskan Aku’
Figure 7. Sharing Session by Students
24 CONCLUSION
Overall, such education support programs for vulnerable children can help to break the cycle of poverty and provide opportunities for a better future. By providing access to education, improving academic performance, boosting self-esteem, providing a sense of community, and empowering orphans, these programs can make a significant positive impact on the lives of vulnerable children. Community programs focused on uplifting education for needy children can have several advantages, including (i) Access to resources, (2) Positive role models, (3) Improved academic performance, (4) Increased engagement, and (5) Social and emotional support. Children from underprivileged backgrounds often lack access to educational resources and other learning materials. Community programs can provide some of these resources to children who might not otherwise have access to them, thus improving their learning outcomes.
Besides that, community programs can provide children with positive role models who can inspire and motivate them to achieve their full potential. The facilitators can serve as role models and help children build confidence and self-esteem. In addition, children who participate in community programs focused on education often see improvements in their academic performance. These programs can provide additional support and resources to help children overcome academic challenges and succeed in school. Other than that, community programs can help children become more engaged in their education by providing hands-on learning experiences, opportunities to explore their interests, and a supportive learning environment. In addition to academic support, community programs can help children develop important social and emotional skills. These programs can provide a safe and supportive environment where children can learn to work together, build relationships, and develop empathy and self-awareness.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to acknowledge that this community project was supported by the All-Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia with Universiti Malaysia Sabah as the Solution Partner under Project Y22-SP084 (LPS2212 External Grant).
REFERENCES
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Website:
United Nations. (n.d.) Sustainable Development Goals.
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/
