Bario students get to become reporters

MIRI: Armed with pens and notebooks, students from a school located in the interior of Bario, near here, got to become journalists recently.

The students from SMK Bario were participants in the Junior Journalist Programme (JJP) organised by iM Sarawak, a social development initiative led by 1Malaysia Sarawak Advisory Council — the brainchild of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Introduced three years ago, iM Sarawak said the programme aimed to help lower secondary students improve their proficiency in the English language.

Students enrolled under the programme were trained in writing, interviewing and photography skills in a series of workshops before they were sent on assignments.

The participants recently got to practise what they learnt in the Runners Wild Bario Trail Run. More than 40 runners, including foreigners from Singapore and the United States, participated in the third edition of the adventure race.

They also took part in an exchange programme with nine students from the Hong Lok Yuen International College, Hong Kong.

SMK Bario principal Yew Kok Wing said the students got to practise their English-speaking skill with exchange students from Hong Kong and interacted with them by sharing their stories and pictures online.

He said the programme helped to boost the students’ self-confidence to converse in English with their peers and teachers.

“It has made learning more fun and engaging for our students,” he said.

iM Sarawak had also organised an English language workshop under its i-Teach Group’s English Language Community Outreach Programme for primary and secondary school students in Bario.