Caltex Fuel Your School supports 27 schools with robotics and coding skills
The Caltex Fuel Your School community campaign, now in its eighth year, returns to Kedah to enhance the learning of Science, Technology, English and Mathematics (STEM) among local youth. This year’s programme, starting in November 2019, will utilise robotics and coding to make the learning of STEM fun, interactive, and creative with a potential to impact some 16,000 students state-wide.
Caltex Fuel Your School, a collaboration between the retail brand Caltex® and MyKasih Foundation, has set aside almost RM285,000 towards the programme, in collaboration with renowned global toy maker, LEGO®, and educational publisher, Sasbadi Holdings Berhad.
“Each school will receive a comprehensive Robotics Mechanism set from LEGO® and this will be accompanied by tutorial and consultations sessions which they will animate alongside Sasbadi. The sessions will equip 54 teachers to guide their students in creating codes and programming robots,” said Chevron Malaysia Limited’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Mokhtar Ali Ismail.
MyKasih Foundation, the reputable non-profit organisation helping less fortunate Malaysians has been entrusted by Caltex® with the role to ensure end-to-end integrity in carrying out the campaign.
“We are grateful to Caltex for choosing MyKasih Foundation as its partner in Malaysia to implement the Fuel Your School campaign since 2012. Education is a key focus area of MyKasih’s work and the collaboration on FYS is a natural extension of our ‘Love My School’ programme. Beyond providing underprivileged students with cashless bursaries, we furnish schools with computer labs, robotics equipment, aquaponics edible garden projects, sports development programmes, English proficiency classes, music and financial literacy”, said MyKasih Foundation Chairman and Co-Founder, Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat.
Mokhtar said the campaign from November 1 to December 31, 2019 in Kedah will see participation from the 27 pre-selected schools identified by Kedah State Education Department, as having interest in the learning of robotics technology.
He explained that the move to focus on robotics is in line with the Malaysian government’s Industrial Revolution 4.0 drive. “We hope the campaign will spark an interest amongst students in coding applications and help them prepare for technology-based competitions and exhibitions locally and even globally,” Mokhtar added.
“Caltex® fuels innovation and eight years on, we’re happy to be able to continue to do so in Malaysian public schools, nurturing young innovators with great potential to lead Malaysia into the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era,” he said. He also stressed on the importance of empowering not only students, but also school principals and teachers alike, who spur innovative classrooms projects that engage the learning of STEM through robotics.
The program’s impact also extends to building capacity of local educators.
Endorsed by the Ministry of Education, the Caltex Fuel Your School campaign since its inception in 2012 has been committed to help government schools enhance public education facilities by giving underprivileged students a chance to experience good quality classroom learning. This is the third time the Caltex Fuel Your School campaign has reached the state of Kedah – include direct beneficiaries to date.
Aside from Kedah, the other states that have successfully executed Caltex Fuel Your School are Penang, Johor, Terengganu, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor as well as the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and has benefitted over 100,000 students collectively. The signature “Fuel Your School” community program is part of Chevron’s overall support for education, which has totalled over USD480 million worldwide since 2013.
