KOTA MARUDU: She opened the orange bag given to her by Astro Kasih and smiled widely as she looked at the new pair of shoes, school uniform, stationery and a drinking water bottle.
It was the first time eight-year-old Rumika Jokiwa wore a pair of shoes since she had always gone to school barefooted.
“I love my new shoes. They are big and I can wear them until I am in primary six,” she said while taking them off and placing them back into the bag.
She ran towards her sister, Wasinah Jokiwa, and showed her the new pair of shoes.
Rumika was one of the pupils of Sekolah Kebangsaan Magandai, Kota Marudu who received the bag of goodies from Astro, under its corporate social responsibility programme known as Astro Kasih.
Close to 200 students from the school can now learn in a more conducive environment as they not only received school uniforms, stationery and drinking water bottles but benefit from a three-block hostel building costing about RM1 million.
The building, complete with dormitories, classrooms, a kitchen, a lounge and a storeroom, was built next to the school. It also has electricity supply.
During construction time, due to the bad condition of road leading to the village then, no vehicle was able to reach the place and Astro had to resort to using a helicopter to transport the building materials.
Rumika who lives far away from the school will now be able to stay in the hostel without having to wake up as early as 3am every morning and to walk for more than three hours from her village to the school.
About 10 pupils aged between 7 and 12 who also come from Rumika’s village of Kampung Makatol Darat benefited from the project initiated by Astro.
Most of the time in the past, Rumika would not go to school because it was extremely tiring for a girl like her to walk the distance everyday.
“My sister and I could have stayed in our relative’s house but I didn’t want to. I want to stay in this hostel because we have our own lockers, mattresses and pillows,” she added with a smile.
It was reliably learnt that Astro and the Ministry of Education are also planning to provide a more permanent power supply using solar energy and that will allow the pupils to study comfortably at night.
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Dr. Maximus Ongkili and Astro’s chief operating officer, Henry Tan yesterday initiated the handing over of the hostel in the presence of teachers and pupils of SK Magandai, located about 40 kilometres away from the township of Kota Marudu.
“Astro is supporting the smart partnership programme between the government and the private sector by providing communal facilities and services as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.
“In addition, with the Astro learning facilities in place, I hope that it will improve achievement of pupils in this school in the UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah),” said Ongkili.
Meanwhile Tan said, Astro and its employees under Astro Kasih take pride in being able to reach out to the community of Kampung Magandai.
“The Hostel Astro project is one of our many corporate social responsibilities where our focus is on education and the community.
“More than 40 Astro employees were involved in this project and each were given the opportunity to sponsor as individuals of basic schooling essentials to the pupils,” Tan said.