Astro group with the teachers and students of SK Magandai.
KOTA KINABALU (Nov 24): Astro continues to champion education for all students, with its latest initiative at SK Magandai, 74km from Kota Marudu.
Euan Smith, Astro’s Group Chief Executive Officer – Designate presented a mock cheque for RM40,000 to the school for education purposes. SK Magandai is also the home of the first Astro Kasih hostel, completed in 2010.
At the presentation, Smith also announced a special education grant of RM500 will be given to the top three students in SK Magandai to motivate the students to achieve excellence in their academics.
Smith said: “Education has always been close to our hearts and the kids in our hostels are our inspiration. We want to keep opening the minds of all children through initiatives like our learning channels Tutor TV and outreach programmes like what we’ve built here with the community of SK Magandai. “We are privileged to partner with the community, parents, teachers and the children at Magandai for education over a decade, and we have witnessed how the students have done well for themselves. We’ve built school hostels, organised the Walk for Education and want to do more, so we’re offering an education grant as incentive for students to keep doing better.”
The headmaster of SK Magandai, Cikgu Jairun, shared that “Deep in the interiors of Sabah, SK Magandai has close to 130 students with about 50 staying at the Astro hostel. Since the hostel has been built, the students’ commute time to and from their village to the school has been reduced tremendously, allowing them to utilise that time for their studies. Dropout rates have reduced, and attendance rates have improved. One of our past achievements is that our school chalked a new record the very next year by achieving the highest passing rate of 87.5%, making us top in the Kota Marudu district since the hostel was built.”
Astro has donated the proceeds from the Walk for Education event organised in May worth RM40,000 and education supplies like LCD projector, PA system, learning books and more to support the children’s education as well as to raise awareness of remote students who walk to school every day.
Since establishing Astro Hostels in 2010, Astro Kasih, the sustainability arm of Astro has supported students residing in remote interiors of East Malaysia.
The first hostel was built in 2010 at SK Magandai, followed by two hostels in SK Sg Paku in Kapit, Sarawak and SK Malinsau in Ranau, Sabah.
Annually, Astro Kasih has helped the students save over 190,000 hours on daily school commute as well as providing them with hostel facilities, laptops, revision books, shoes, uniforms and other education supplies.
Astro Kasih champions education for all by supporting students residing in remote interiors of East Malaysia by creating a conducive living and learning environment. The students’ UPSR pass rates improved by an average of 39.4% across the three schools from 2010 to 2019.
The Walk for Education event that Astro Kasih organised on 28 May 2022 at Taman Wetland Putrajaya aimed to raise awareness and gather support for remote students who walk to school every day by having the participants simulate a child’s journey – carrying a school bag filled with learning supplies to walk the 5km trail, specially customised for this event.
The event has attracted over 2,000 participants and all school bags as well as proceeds were donated to the hostels Astro supports.