Beyond Borders Awards 2009

..aiming for same achievements for next adopted schools

KUALA LUMPUR, 7 November - Nine schools adopted by Malaysia Airports 'graduated' today, as Malaysia Airports completed the two years adoption period of its Beyond Borders programme, initiated under the Khazanah's Promoting Intelligence, Nurturing Talents, Advocating Responsibility' (PINTAR) project.

Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Aris Othman, Chairman of Malaysia Airports said: "We have reached the end of the two years period of adoption of these schools, and we are positive that the English language proficiency at our nine adopted schools will be much improved via all the projects that we have implemented, based on the response that we received."

Malaysia Airports will move on to adopt other schools, and hope to achieve the same support and emulate the achievement at the first nine adopted schools, in terms of involvement and interest in English language.

The nine adopted schools were chosen based on the proximity to the airport; in the effort to contribute to the surrounding communities Malaysia Airports operates in. This was one of the reasons why Malaysia Airports was awarded the prestigious Community Engagement Award by Enterprise Asia in the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards (AREA) 2009 Malaysia.

Malaysia Airports allocated a total of RM 60,050.00 cash prizes as a reward to all participants of these competitions. Tan Sri Aris said: "We would like to encourage these teachers and students to continuously improve their English proficiency, and rewarding them is one of the best ways to further inculcate their interest in English."

In the Golden Pen Awards Essay Writing Competition involving Standard 4 pupils from the adopted schools, more than 1,000 entries were submitted, an increment of two fold over last year's 500 entries. A total of 24 entries were shortlisted and judged to select the top 3 essays.

For Golden Pen Awards Essay Writing Competition, Mohd Fitri Mansor of SK Petagas, Sabah won the first prize, taking away cash prizes of RM 1,000.00, Nor Fatin Liyana Ghazali of SK Pokok Sena, Penang was second and went home with cash prize of RM 700.00 while Faiz Farhan Ahm. Nadzri of SK Pengkalan Chepa was third and received RM 500.00.

The inaugural 'Act It Up' Interschool Drama Competition was introduced as part of Malaysia Airports' effort to create a fun and creative method of learning English and Science among Malaysia Airports' adopted school community.

The competition was opened to all Standard 3 and Standard 5 students, carrying the theme "Everything around you is Science". Each school was required to produce a 15-minutes drama comprising a team of maximum 5 students. The objective of this acting competition is to help increase students' interest and knowledge in science.

Three schools made it to the final stage - SK Petagas, Kota Kinabalu, SK Pokok Sena, Kepala Batas, and SK Batu Maung, Bt. Maung, Pulau Pinang. The results saw SK Pokok Sena, Penang won the first prize of 5,000.00, another school from Penang, SK Batu Maung was second and received RM 3,000.00 and SK Petagas, Sabah won RM 2,000.00 for third prize.

For special awards, Ammar Daniel Anuar of SK Pokok Sena was The Best Actor, Syazana Husna Othman Mydin won The Best Actress and Anuar Ismail was The Best Director. All went home with cash prizes of RM300 each.

Earlier today, four schools competed in the final stage of Malaysia Airports' 'Beyond Borders Project Interschool Competition', presenting their schools' projects to judges. The finalists were SK Batu Maung Pulau Pinang, SK Pulo, Kuching, Sarawak, SK Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Bharu, Kelantan and SK Wira, Kuantan, Pahang.

One of the objectives of 'Beyond Borders' Interschool Competition is to enhance the usage of English as the medium for instructions in science and mathematics whereby teachers play a significant role in promoting English amongst the students particularly in science and mathematics. It will also aid the teaching process and ultimately ease the adoption of English in schools.

SK Wira, Kuantan, Pahang emerged as champion and received RM 10,000.00, SK Pulo, Kuching, Sarawak won the second place and cash prize of RM7,000.00 and SK Batu Maung, Penang was third and received RM 3,000.00.

A total of 62 teachers and 88 students attended the Beyond Borders Awards ceremony, accompanied by 34 parents to give moral support to the students. Guest judges comprised of representatives from media agency and government ministry.

To further celebrate and encourage participation, Malaysia Airports created special awards for Beyond Borders Awards 2009. The special awards and the winners were:-

1. Most Reformed School (SK Petagas, Sabah)

2. Most Original Idea (SK Pulo, Sarawak)

3. Most Creative Project (SK Batu Maung, Penang)

4. Extra Mile (SK Pulo, Sarawak)

5. Most Supportive Regional Representative (En. Sunif Naiman, Kuching international Airport)

6. Best Single Point of Contact (Cikgu Roslinda Intan Md Kasim from SK Bukit Changgang, Banting, Selangor)

All winners received cash prizes of RM 300.00 each, accompanied by trophies and certificates.

The grand prize winner of Best Beyond Borders School for overall achievement was SK Batu Maung, Penang who walked away with a cash prize of RM 10,000.00, accompanied by a trophy and certificate. All nine schools also received their graduation certificates to mark the end of their adoption period with Malaysia Airports.

Y.Bhg. Dato' Asariah Mior Shaharudin, Deputy Director General of Teacher Professional Development Sector, Ministry of Education and Y.Bhg. Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Aris Othman, Chairman of Malaysia Airports presented the prizes to all winners.

In her speech Dato' Asariah applauded the proactive role played by Malaysia Airports in elevating and improving the academic standards as well as character building of the students from the participating schools.

She added: "Beyond Borders is rather unique in nature as it aims to give sustainable impact to the overall school community and implemented based on a comprehensive framework. In this respect, Malaysia Airports has gone beyond its business responsibilities and acknowledges the responsibility to educate. This shows that Malaysia Airports is embracing the nation's education aspiration."

Tan Sri Aris said: "We hope our commitment in improving the education level at this school will further stimulate the students, and also the teachers, to improve their performance from time to time. We want to leave a lasting positive impact to the schools and ultimately our Malaysia Airports' children."