A commitment to early literacy
APART from upholding its goal in improving English proficiency, United Business Media (UBM) is also inspired to impart positive vibes with its latest sponsorship of education pullout Step Up by The Star.
The pullout, which comes free with a copy of The Star newspaper, aims to boost English proficiency among primary school children.
“When I read The Star, there are encouraging articles on racial harmony and it brings so much of social value. We would like to support the positive activities of The
Star,” UBM managing director (Asean Business) M Ghandhi said during the mock cheque presentation held at the UBM Kuala Lumpur office.
On hand to receive the mock cheque was Star Media Group managing director and CEO Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai.
Sponsoring for the sixth time, UBM contributes an all-time high of RM50,000 for the Step Up pullouts, which will go to primary schools nationwide with a focus in the Muar and Batu Pahat districts in Johor.
“We see value in the Step Up programme. As we grow, we also want to contribute more. We wanted to increase our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities, and we thought, why not support an established pro- gramme instead of starting something new?”
He said that furniture production in the Muar area had increased in recent years, which had also resulted in the increase of its furniture exports. “Nearly 50% of furniture for export in the country comes from that area, he added.
“In the export industry, English is widely used as it is the global language of communication. And with the growth of the furniture exports from the area, there is a great need to have people who can speak and write in English.
“Pupils who learn to be proficient in English will add value and contribute to the growth of the industry in the long term,” he said.
Also present was Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) founder and chairman Datuk Dr Tan Chin Huat.
He said that Step Up has brought about positive outcomes for primary school students.
“Carrying out activities from the pullout would improve the writing skills and vocabulary of schoolchildren,” added Tan.
“There are fresh graduates who cannot spell English words correctly and write with many grammatical mistakes.
“Step Up will help raise the English Language standard of pupils. Even if they don’t read books, there’s the newspaper. Education is crucial. If all children are educated, a lot of problems can be solved.
“This kind of (NiE) programme by The Star is very timely and useful. We hope more organisations would come in to support this programme.”
Teacher Chia Suan Neo of SJK(C) Kuen Cheng 2, Kuala Lumpur, said: “The pullout does help to improve my pupils’ command of the English language because the content is according to the syllabus. It caters to pupils in Years Four, Five and Six.
“The exercises are geared towards the UPSR standard and improves their writing, grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and understanding of literature. The poems, stories, quizzes, proverbs, idioms, similes and the mini dictionary really appeal to the pupils. The colourful pictures attract the pupils’ attention.”
UBM’s sponsorship in 2015 went out to selected schools in central and southern peninsular Malaysia, which included SJK(C) Kuen Cheng 2.
Sponsorships in 2016 went out to schools located in northern peninsular Malaysia. For 2017, the sponsorship will benefit central and southern states again.
Step Up is a 24-page English language resource for pupils that features Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese translations of English words. The version with BM translations is published on alternate Tuesdays, while the version with Chinese translations comes out on alternate Thursdays.
The Step Up pullout is syllabus-based and endorsed by the Education Ministry.
For more information about the pullout, contact The Star’s Customer Care Unit at 1 300 88 7827 from Monday to Friday (9am–5pm).