KVC wins big in Seoul
wINNING four gold medals and four special awards at the World Invention Innovation Contest (WiC) in Seoul was the best ever achievement by a group of teachers and students from Keningau Vocational College (KVC) recently.
The gold medallist recipients were teachers Mohd Sirhajwan Idek for his Think Tales innovation and Sauman Maliki (Pastry Dough). Two other gold medals came from a collaboration between teachers Michael Dungki and Sadzul Hamzasin; and students Terence Fong and Mohd Azley Jaldy for their entries - Mini Fogging and Easy Tiles Installer, respectively.
Sirhajwan, who is also the head of the Malaysian delegation, said winning the world-class awards was a great achievement.
“It felt awesome and what made it more special was that I won a gold medal with my colleagues and students. When we were in Seoul, there were six of us and we had four entries in the competition.
“All four innovations were awarded with gold medals and I felt so happy for my colleagues and students as they deserved the recognition for their dedication and creativity.
“Malaysia also beat more advanced countries like the United States. We have done our best for the country. This victory is our gift to Malaysians, especially our parents, the people of KVC and Sabah,” he said.
WiC is a globally recognised annual innovation competition held in Seoul. It provides opportunities for students, inventors, innovators and research scienties to express their creativity through their inventions.
The two-day WiC championship at Chungmu Art Centre in South Korea was organised by the Korean Invention News, with the participation of 10 countries.
Sirhajwan said it had been a common practice among teachers to help and support each other in developing their innovations and partake in any competition, especially in Sabah.
“We won a few competitions and became finalists for a few more. So, we decided that it was the right time for us to try to compete in international contests and we picked WiC as our first attempt.
“We are happy with our results and we are going to Indonesia next for another innovation contest. We have also set our eyes on Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai for upcoming competitions.”
He said their participation in the competition had inspired other teachers and students to unleash their creativity and pursue their dreams.
“There are now more teachers and students in our college that are determined to develop their ideas and seize every available opportunity to display and demonstrate their capabilities and talent.
“In fact, there are also teachers from other schools who would like to collaborate with us.”
Sirhajwan’s winning idea, Think Tales, is a collection of ESL materials, including short stories and poems on the indigenous culture of Bajau, that he wrote.
He said the objective of Think Tales was to raise people’s awareness of the beauty, richness and significance of their cultural origins, childhood memories and core selves through stories and poems.
“It is important for people to embrace these aspects of their life and express them in the form of stories as a way of making them feel confident, proud and optimistic.
“I started Think Tales: The Borneo Collection as the interpretation and manifestation of my indigenous culture (Bajau) and my childhood memories through stories and poems.
“I have written several stories, including Bele Bele (The Scarecrow),
Kanang and the Serimpak (Kanang and the Bajau headpiece) and Tekok Parai (The Guardian of Padi), which embodied my culture and experience.
“I have made them available online for free and it has been downloaded 10,000 times from people across the globe,” said Sirhajwan.
On how Think Tales helps to gauge his students’ inter- est in English, Sirhajwan said he was able to get them to talk about their cultures, hometown, childhood and families in English as a postreading activity.
“They have been very engaged in sharing their stories, in which their stories ranged from mythological creatures to traditional games, and their dream jobs to their families. The stories were also about the lessons they learned from their past experiences or the native languages of their ethnicity.
“They are motivated to do research on myths and legends from their hometowns. Think Tales also serves as a great reading activity in training the students on using the dictionary and familiarising themselves with correct pronunciations.”
He said the positive feedback and recommendations on the work had encouraged him to continue pursuing this project.
Sirhajwan’s win in the individual category was his fifth victory in an international competition. He attributed his success to having selfconfidence, staying focused and being persistent.
“It is time for me to take others to greater heights. Now that I have been globally recognised, I feel more motivated to do more, especially in helping others to reach their fullest potential and realise their dreams.
“I want to break barriers, push boundaries, make the impossible possible, redefine and reinvent teaching profession and inspire others to unleash their passion.
“We are going to Indonesia in September for the International Young Inventors Award and Brunei in November for an international conference. We have many plans of what we would like to do in the future and I hope we can make this happen.
“I also seek to collaborate with teachers from other schools so we can transform the education system and elevate the teaching profession,” he said.