Lessons from Kim Kim
IN March last year, close to 6,000 people in Pasir Gudang, Johor were affected by toxic fumes from the illegal dumping of chemicals into Sungai Kim Kim. The fumes caused 2,775 to be hospitalised.
Schools had to close as many students and teachers fell sick after inhaling an unpleasant odour.
The incident that became known as “the Sungai Kim Kim toxic pollution crisis” was caused mainly by apathy on the part of the relevant authorities, and sheer audacity on the part of the factory operator who thought nothing of dumping toxic chemical waste into the river.
Environmental education is therefore very important for our young. One such initiative that came out of the crisis is Project Kim Kim, an environmental education pilot project led by 14 teachers under Teach For Malaysia (TFM).
Aliah Wahida Johari, Rena Alia Razali and Nur Syakira Edham from SMK Tun Fatimah Hashim, Johor Baru were among 33 students from seven secondary schools who participated in the project.
These three 16-year-old activists launched and spearheaded a campaign on sustainable menstruation in their school.
Apart from teaching young girls to embrace the delicate intricacy of their biological side, the initiative themed the Emerald of Venus also aimed to spread awareness on reusable options to reduce disposal waste, considering that a disposal sanitary pad takes 500-800 years to decompose.
Said Rena: “It took us three weeks to research sustainable menstruation by using the systems thinking method and to complete the cloth pads.
“We were glad that our parents and teachers supported our initiative at school. Our friends have taken the pledge to start using cloth pads to reduce the burden on Mother Nature.”
Watching with pride was their teacher, Jessica Rummy, 31, of SMK Tun Fatimah Hashim, Johor Baru.
Rummy said the students demonstrated courage and leadership qualities by taking on a subject that’s often considered taboo.
“We must look into how we can provide our children with the right tools on how to think and have a sense of empathy towards their surroundings,” she said.
Running from April to December last year, the first part of the project ended recently with a showcase held at Sunway College, Johor Baru.
The participants, who had been pre-selected from their video entries, presented their initiatives to parents, teachers, officials from the governmental education sector and invitees from nongovernmental organisations.
Project leader and TFM teacher Nur Aisyah Md Ajib from SMK Taman Scientex, Johor Baru, said the project’s curriculum was grounded in the framework of “systems thinking”, which is a set of tools to help students develop critical thinking skills and empower them to understand and analyse complex problems in a world of interdependence and change.
“As teachers, we wanted to develop an environmental education model that focuses on the growth of values and mindset; one that is accessible and inclusive for our students here in Pasir Gudang and that could one day be adapted and scaled up for other students in the varying districts and states in Malaysia.”
Nur Aisyah said the tools for the project were introduced in two phases.
“The overall aims of the programme were to equip students with the right knowledge in the workshop and build empathy from the field trip.”
For the first phase, a “systems thinking” core workshop was conducted with the students at SMK Taman Scientex.
The students underwent pre-workshop introductory lessons at each of their respective schools and all 33 came together for the core workshop.
During the core workshop, the teachers held a series of sessions that encouraged students to think more deeply through exploring the relationship of all the elements that are connected to a problem.
The second phase was about moving from theory to practice when the students went on a field trip to Tanjung Balau in Kota Tinggi.
Students were exposed to the “zero waste” concept via a talk delivered by a speaker from Zero Waste Malaysia.
After the talk, the students collected, catalogued and analysed the waste found at the beach by applying the “zero waste” concept of 5Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot.
“Subsequently, the students went on to develop their own environmental initiatives based on the understanding and awareness obtained from the two stages of the programme,” Nur Aisyah added.
The team managed to crowd-fund RM4,800 in August. The project also received funding from the office of the Johor Menteri Besar, Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal.
Steven Choong, a member of parliament for Tebrau Constitution in Johor, also lent his support by partially funding the project in October.
Through the funding, participants were given a set of “zero waste” starter kit.
Siti Masaniza Azmi, Vinotha Shanmugam Kunjappa and Low Lik Kua, all 13, from SMK Puteri Wangsa, Ulu Tiram, launched a “zero waste” challenge in their school where students were encouraged to bring their own food containers, metal straws and cutleries during recess.
They also set up an Instagram account to document their learning journey and inspire others to follow suit.
From feedback surveys collected after the programme, 98 per cent of the participants expressed their concerns and fear on environmental threats and how these will affect their future.
Ultimately, these young voices across Malaysia must be heard and it is time adults start taking solid action to help children to understand and adapt to environmental issues.
The team’s impact measure lead, Nurul Aini Hanani Mohd Saidi, of SMK Sungai Tiram, emphasised that Project Kim Kim was not just an initiative for students to raise awareness about environmental issues or about them gathering textbook answers for environmental solutions.
“We want the students to learn to think and understand more systematically and, on a deeper level, why environmental problems are happening in the first place and how to prevent it from recurring,” she said.
Nur Aisyah said the success of running this pilot project was made possible through the collaborative and voluntary efforts by a dedicated team of 18 teachers from 12 secondary schools around Pasir Gudang.
“Our goal is to create access to an environmental education model that will grow grassroots champions, with the vision that one day all communities in Malaysia will self-organise efforts to safekeep their local environments.
“The growth shown in the students’ ability to take ownership of an environmental problem and trying to make a difference within the short span of running this pilot project is a very good start. It is evidence that gives us hope and courage to keep going,” she concluded.