KOTA MARUDU: Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Ongkili recently gave a motivational talk to the pupils of SK Magandai who are preparing the UPSR.
The Kota Marudu member of parliament boosted their confidence during his visit to their classroom together with Astro community affairs management vice-president David Yap and his team, who were there to give the pupils intensive tutoring three weeks leading to their UPSR.
The tutors were brought in under Astro Kasih “Road to UPSR Programme” for SK Magandai.
Dr Ongkili told the pupils to believe in their own abilities as they could excel despite their disadvantages compared with the opportunities availed to their urban peers, as long as they had determination, desire to succeed, disciplined and followed the right study methods taught to them.
He reminded them of the school’s humble beginning when it was set up by the Sabah Journalist Association (SJA) in 1996. From funds collected, SJA built a school and paid the salary of a temporary teacher who taught the children to finally read, write and count.
A few years later, the school was handed over to the Education Department and now has a modern, equipped Astro hostel with a dedicated team ensuring the progress of the pupils.
“The government, corporate companies, NGOs and even individuals are there to help but to succeed you need to have faith in yourselves,” Dr Ongkili told them and related about Jekus Majidin, a young man from Magandai who has graduated from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
“We want to have more Jekus from among you and this is why Astro is here to help. Education is the weapon of success in life, the most precious asset that one can possess and your success is the success of your families and community,” he said.
Dr Ongkili added that the pupils’ parents too must realise this and keep sending their children to school.
“One of the messages we want to keep instilling in the parents is that education is key to life. Their children may decide later on to continue working on their parents’ farms and that is okay because agriculture development is also encouraged but for that education will also be useful to them,” he said.
Dr Ongkili has been working closely with Astro, which built the hostel for the pupils who came from poor families living in the area.
The feat was not a small one due to the hilly terrains leading to Magandai but the hostel was a welcomed gift to the community whose children were often discouraged to attend school because of having to walk for hours to get to school.
Astro also equipped the school with Astro tutor channels, trained the teachers and provided teaching materials with an aim to increase the school’s UPSR passes.
Last year, SK Magandai historically scored a 87.5 per cent UPSR passing rate, doubling its results in 2010 and became the best Kota Marudu school for UPSR passes.