KUALA LUMPUR (19th September, 2013) – St. Mary’s KL, a government-aided mission school in Kuala Lumpur, founded in 1912, is set to be the pilot school for the EduNation Programme, Malaysia’s first social media platform dedicated to education. This is made possible with the official hand over of 46 tablets by Ninetology Marketing Sdn. Bhd., an Asean mobile device technology company to the school today.
St. Mary’s KL secondary school currently accommodates 1,243 students with the support of 65 teachers. The school was first located at Jalan Tengah with a subsequent re-location in 1997 to Taman Intan Baiduri, Selayang.
The EduNation Programme is expected to expose students to a new pedagogical approach using technology for teaching and learning. Teaching videos for Mathematics, Science, Economics, Accounting and languages such as English and Bahasa Malaysia as well as an online exercise and test paper can now be conducted on a social media platform so that participating students will be able to practice their comprehension on subjects and concepts.
“Technology advancement moves at a rapid pace. Students’ exposure and hands-on knowledge about the world of Internet and digital media, is critical. In today’s new work environment, high IT knowledge and the know-how of using digital media, should not be limited only for those studying IT as a career option. All of our children need strong skills in IT. From doctors to engineers, lawyers and teachers; we all need these skills. Our children, who in the future will look for employment, will need to, for example, apply for jobs online.
“We are truly thankful that our requests to our Alumni Club has gotten us EduNation and Ninetology, who worked together to make the EduNation Programme a reality,” said Miss Goh Hai Bee, St. Mary’s KL school principal.
The EduNation Programme is the brain child of Mr. Edmond Yap, who sets up EduNation, a volunteer driven organization giving Malaysian students equal access to a free, complete educational ecosystem. His objective is to revolutionize Malaysian education in the digital era.
“EduNation Programme is Malaysia’s first social media platform dedicated to education. The idea is to enable any student in need of academic assistance to be connected to parents, teachers, volunteers and fellow students to receive free real time tuition powered by the Malaysian Community,” enthused Mr. Edmond Yap, Chied Education Guy, EduNation.
Ninetology is donating 46 units of its latest tablet model Outlook Pure worth RM599 each, to the school. The company with the help of the school’s ‘Guru Cemerlang’, conducted a trial run for two weeks and found them to be useful.
“The students were very excited when I use the tablet to teach. They were ecstatic and we notice a new sense of interest in the subject matter,” shared Mr. Chew, ‘Guru Cemerlang’, St. Mary’s School KL .
Mr. Sean Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Ninetology said,” We are delighted to be part of this very meaningful programme. We find the programme to be in line with our very own corporate social responsibility initiative – the Gift of Love & Donation (G.O.L.D). We wish the school and EduNation a great success and hope many more students will benefit from it.”
According to EduNation, there are students who lack access to academic assistance when they need it. Either due to economic conditions or demographic conditions, these students are left to fend for themselves.
“EduNation Programme aims to complement the Malaysian Education system. By putting the entire Malaysian school syllabus online, free for all, we will empower every Malaysian regardless of their economic status to excel in school.
“I am happy that St. Mary’s KL is enthusiastic in bringing this programme to reality and offers to pilot this project in improving the school’s education system. Not forgetting corporate sponsors such as Ninetology who came on board with a big heart,” Yap said.
