A total of seven schools competed in the Malaysia Airports Beyond Borders Awards held on 2 and 9 November at Sibu, Sarawak and Bachang, Melaka on 2 November and 9 November respectively, showcasing their talents and skills in English language through acting, writing and drama competitions.
On 2 November, four Malaysia Airports’ adopted schools in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan participated in the East Malaysia Region Beyond Borders Awards. The schools were SK Sibu Jaya, Sibu, Sarawak; SK Kg. Jepak, Bintulu, Sarawak; SK Merpati Sandakan, Sabah and SK Patau-Patau, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan.
For Peninsular Malaysia Region Beyond Borders awards, it was held on 9 November. The schools that took part were SK Bachang, Melaka; SK Labohan Dagang, Banting, Selangor and SK Che Latiff, Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
Competing schools were those that have been adopted under the Malaysia Airports Beyond Borders programme, a corporate responsibility (CR) initiative aimed at helping underprivileged students improve their academic performance, particularly in English language proficiency.
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports said, “What we want to do is to empower these young lives with knowledge, skills and self-esteem that can change their perspectives on education and life. Just like the programme’s tagline, “Give Them Wings, Let Them Fly”, we want the students to chart their own destiny, be confident to reach for higher goals and believe that with hard work, nothing is impossible.”
The Beyond Borders Awards was held to mark the finale and completion of ‘Beyond Borders’ programme and all of its pillar programmes for year 2014. It also served as a platform to showcase drama, storytelling, and essay writing in English language among the adopted schools.
Apart from the educational aspect, the event provided a platform for the host schools, SK Sibu Jaya, Sibu, Sarawak (for East Malaysia region) and SK Bachang in Melaka (for Peninsular Malaysia region) to exercise their event organising skills.
Under the Beyond Borders Regional Awards banner, Malaysia Airports organised the Golden Pen Award, Tell a Story Competition and ‘Act it Up’ Competition. Malaysia Airports also rewarded students and teachers under the Special Award categories namely ‘Most Improved Student Award’ in English subject and Best English Team. Participants competed to win a total of more than RM6,000 in cash prizes.
The Golden Pen Award is an essay writing competition, where Year 4 students were required to write two simple essays. The winner received RM200, while the first and second runner-up received RM100 and RM80 respectively.
The Tell a Story competition was opened to students aged 7-12 where stories selection were based from English storybooks donated by Malaysia Airports. Awards lined up for this competition were Best Story Teller (Upper and Lower Category) awarded to students, and Best Script (Upper & Lower Category) awarded to teachers.
‘Act it Up’ is a drama competition meant to enhance students’ communication skills in a fun and creative way. Its objectives were to improve articulation skills, comprehension level, as well as to increase confidence. It was opened to all Year 4 to Year 6 students and offered cash prizes of RM1,000 for first prize, RM800 for second prize, RM500 for third prize and RM300 for consolation prize. There were also cash prizes for Best Actor & Actress (students) and Best Script & Director (teachers) at RM200 each.
The Best English Team was a special award for teachers who have worked diligently throughout Beyond Borders programme this year. It served as an acknowledgement of their display of strong teamwork and effort in supporting the Beyond Borders programme.