LBS Bina continues to sponsor NiE
Property developer contributing for the sixth year to improve schools’ English proficiency
PETALING JAYA: As chairman of a Chinese school board, Tan Sri Lim Hock San wanted to achieve something important -- improve the English language proficiency of its pupils.
He said that while mastering Chinese was important, getting a good grasp of English was vital for global communication.
A strong believer in learning English via the currency of the newspaper, the LBS Bina Group Bhd managing director is sponsoring The Star’s Step Up and Newspaper-in-Education (NiE) pullouts for SJK (C) Tun Tan Siew Sin, Selangor, where Lim has been chairman of the board of governors since March last year.
In fact, this is the sixth year the property developer is contributing towards improving English proficiency in schools. This year, LBS Bina Group Bhd is sponsoring RM60,000 worth of the two pullouts to 80 schools in the Klang Valley, Perak, Pahang, and Johor as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.
“We are continuing our support because NiE is a good programme that allows pupils to learn English,” said Lim after handing a mock cheque to Star Media Group Bhd group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai at SJK (C) Tun Tan Siew Sin yesterday.
Copies of pullouts will be distributed to the selected schools from March to November this year.
“Though Chinese is equally important, English remains the international medium of the world,” he said, adding that it was beneficial to master multiple languages.
Also present at the event were Lim’s wife Puan Sri Karen Lim and the school’s headmistress Teoh Ai Theng.
Teoh said the enrichment exercises in both pullouts help sharpen pupils’ language skills.
“The children like the activities. The pullouts contain interesting reading material and expose them to both English and Chinese,” said Teoh who previously taught English in SJK (C) Chio Chiao, Sepang, for five years.
The content and activities can also prepare Year Six pupils to do well in English in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) later this year, she added.
Endorsed by the Education Ministry, the NiE pullout is a resource for English language learning using real-world examples from the newspaper, while the Step Up programme is a 24-page bilingual pullout for primary school pupils.
The NiE pullout consists of 33 issues and is published every Wednesday. The Step Up pullout consists of 17 issues per year. The pullouts feature syllabus-based content that tackles themes set by the Education Ministry.
For enquiries on The Star’s educational packages and sponsorship programmes, contact the Customer Care Unit at 1300 887 827 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
All packages are available through school subscription only.