Students from SMK St Teresa present their project entitled ‘Rimbang Rami’, which is a place for members of the community, especially children, to engage in fun activities within a safe and secure environment.
KUCHING: Fifteen schools in the city will vie for the honour to represent the state at Petronas’ national-level ‘All About Youth Programme (PAAY)’ in Kuala Lumpur next month.
The finale, which will consist of activities leading to the grand showdown on Oct 1, will kick off Sept 28. It offers RM50,000 to the winning team.
On Monday, teams from eight schools presented their respective PAAY projects at Dewan Hikmah in Petra Jaya near here, to be assessed by three judges representing Petronas, the state Education Department and state Youth and Sports Department.
The participants come from SMK Petra Jaya, SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman, SMK Green Road, SMK Bandar Kuching No 1, SMK Pending, SMK St Teresa, SMK Sejingkat and SMK Semerah Padi.
Today, the presentation continues with projects by teams from Kolej Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah, SMK Santubong, SMK Bako, SMK Matang Jaya, Sekolah Seni Kuching, Kolej Vokasional Kuching and SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi.
Assistant director of the Co-Curricular and Arts Division under the Education Ministry, Wan Mohd Ariffin Wan Hussin, said the projects would be evaluated based on five main aspects – creativity, originality, impact, clarity of presentation and sustainability.
According to him, the programme served as a platform for students to improve their soft skills, in tandem with the initiative set out by the government.
“It encourages students to be more creative through involvement in innovative projects, rather than just acquiring knowledge during classroom lessons or from reading books.”
Wan Mohd Ariffin also commended Petronas and the ministry for the initiative, which entered its second edition this year.
“These activities, apart from promoting higher thinking skills among students, will also be helping them to collect co-curricular merits which in turn, would give them that added advantage when applying to institutions of higher learning upon finishing secondary school.
The PAYY 2015 was set up as a pilot last year, in support of the National Education Philosophy. The first edition involved 1,200 Form 4 students from 60 schools in Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak (Miri and Bintulu).
Under the programme, the teams were given seven weeks to complete and produce their projects complete with post-reports, with regular monitoring and visits by thir Petronas’ ‘buddies’ – or volunteers.
Last year, SMK Lutong of Miri and SMK Tatau of Bintulu claimed the top and first runner-up spots, respectively.