Education is key
WHEN Amelia Tan worked for Teach For Malaysia, she noticed that many of her fellow teachers had great ideas for their classes, but often struggled to raise funds for their projects.
“Some wouldn’t know where to begin and some would be too busy with day to day tasks at school that they didn’t have the time. I was working as a fundraiser and would constantly meet people who expressed interest in directly contributing to schools.
“That’s when I realised that there wasn’t a lack of teachers doing great things or generous people wanting to contribute funds to education, but rather these two groups of people weren’t connecting,” she said in an email interview.
That in a nutshell, is the reason behind the birth of 100% Project (www.100percentproject.org), a crowdfunding website through which people can discover and directly fund impactful classroom projects initiated by primary and secondary school teachers across Malaysia.
“We hope to do a few things with 100% Project. The most obvious is to help lift the financial burden off teachers when it comes to implementing classroom projects.
“We want teachers to know that they are never alone in their quest to provide the best learning experience for their students and that they will always have our support,” said Tan of the project approved by the Education Ministry.
The 100% Project also hopes to elevate the teaching profession by bringing to light the stories of the many inspiring teachers out there who are working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure our children have the best education.
“They are the unsung heroes of the country and we would like to raise awareness and restore a sense of pride in the profession,” said Tan.
“Lastly, we hope to build a community of education advocates who will collectively empower our teachers and educators. We think that education is a collective responsibility and it takes all of us to contribute in our own capacity to move education forward.”
Teachers don’t have to pay a fee for assistance, but that’s where the selection process comes in – teachers submit their project proposals online and the 100% Project team will vet them and consult the teachers to ensure that every project on their platform is of high quality with clearly defined problems in their classroom/school/ community, impactful and that the funds requested are reasonable.
As for the public, they have the choice to donate a minimum amount of RM10 to their chosen projects. They are also given the option to pay a 15% service fee on top of their contribution to help the 100% Project team sustain their platform. “As donors, they will also be entitled to different types of rewards depending on the amount of contributions they have made. These rewards will be in the form of thank you notes, drawings from students or even an invitation to visit a school,” shared Tan.