School Education Program

PINTAR PROGRAM

PINTAR (Promoting Intelligence, Nurturing Talent and Advocating Responsibility), a program spearheaded by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia, was launched in December 2006.

PINTAR implementation is in line with the Government's call under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and 2006 Budget on public-private partnerships for sustainable education development. Two key thrusts of PINTAR's mission are to raise the children’s motivation to learn and to ensure a conducive learning environment for the school children. At its inception, 45 schools nationwide were adopted for this program.

On 9th October 2007, Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that PINTAR is to be expanded to Iskandar Malaysia, formerly known as Iskandar Development Region, in Johor. The program in Iskandar Malaysia is expected to assist an estimated 12,000 underprivileged children in the primary and secondary schools within the region.

UEM Land’s CSR

UEM Land Berhad, master developer of Nusajaya, the key driver and a major component of Iskandar Malaysia, was entrusted to play a major role in developing PINTAR in the region. As a subsidiary of the UEM Group, UEM Land subscribes to the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agenda and is committed to our principle of 'responsible corporate citizenship'.

At UEM Land, we believe in contributing to the enhancement of quality as well as development of the community, through the provision of products and services that address our stakeholders' needs and aspirations. This, together with the securing of fair profits and fair employment, constitutes the foundation of our business and our fundamental CSR.

UEM Land's CSR policy is focused on education and local community development. As a caring developer and a responsible corporate citizen, UEM Land is committed to help develop the community within which our business operates and in this respect, the community in and around geographical Nusajaya becomes our focus.

Our CSR program aims to contribute to capacity building and human capital development so that the communities within and in the surrounds of Nusajaya will be able to participate in and benefit from the extensive development of Nusajaya. As a subsidiary of a GLC, UEM Group Berhad, UEM Land therefore wholeheartedly embraces the PINTAR program as it is founded on similar principles.

Since 2006, UEM Land has been actively engaging its stakeholders in Nusajaya. To date, UEM Land has adopted four kampungs (villagers) within Nusajaya.

In 2008, UEM Land officially "adopted" 16 schools comprising 12 primary schools and four secondary schools. We took the initiative to identify the schools and work closely with the Johor Bahru District Education Office to execute two major flagship programs, the Academic Excellence Program and ICT Knowledge and Appreciation Program which benefited more than 1,200 students.

Academic Excellence Program

The objective of UEM Land's Academic Excellence Program is to help schools raise the academic performance of their students. The long term objective of this program is to bridge the gap between the various socio-economic sectors of the community.

Since 2007, UEM Land has been actively supporting school educational activities especially those which are designed to help the students to achieve outstanding academic results. The initiatives were first implemented in 10 schools within the district.

Tuition classes, motivational and curriculum camps were amongst the main programs conducted for the benefit of the school children. Motivational talks and sessions which included interaction with parents were also organised to educate them on the importance of education hence encouraging parents to support and motivate their children to strive for academic excellence

In 2008 our Academic Excellence Program was implemented through collaboration with Berita Harian Sdn Bhd. Berita Harian is renowned for their expertise in conducting clinics, seminars and workshops for UPSR, PMR and SPM students. These programs are known to be effective and have a wide outreach.

The program is presented in a more structured manner, providing the students with access to expert resources. The objectives of this program are to help students achieve excellent academic performance, viz:

• To manage pre examination jitters and to guide the students to be well prepared for their examinations by giving them exposure on the methods and techniques of answering questions accurately.
• To give students the opportunity to understand and tackle actual examination questions.
• To build the students' confidence

So far, an estimated 750 of our PINTAR students have benefited from the workshop series.

This year we will continue our engagement with Berita Harian, based on the positive outcome of last year’s examination results which showed an increased number of students achieving straight A's for their UPSR and PMR exams, compared to 2007.

ICT Knowledge and Appreciation Program

UEM Land’s ICT Knowledge and Appreciation Program seeks to create awareness on the importance of ICT usage for both primary and secondary school children especially for Primary 4, 5 & 6, and Form 1 to Form 5 students. The ICT Program was also planned to instill appreciation of ICT from an early age, and it is hoped that, in the long run, this program will contribute to bridging the digital divide between the urban and rural communities.

Since its inception in 2007, the ICT program has benefited more than 1,500 students. The program was developed as a platform for promoting capacity-building in the field of information and communication technology in the community. The curriculum covered basic aspects of using IT as an enabler with practical hands-on training for software and application as well as the Internet.

In August 2008, this program was taken one step further with the empowerment of teachers in ICT through a special ICT training session for PINTAR schools' teachers. The ICT course was specially designed to enable them to become more proficient in ICT. About 60 teachers gained from this training course.

The ICT Knowledge and Appreciation program is a continuing program that will ultimately see the younger generation of Nusajaya become ICT savvy.

Pre School Al-Quran Classes

The idea of an Al-Quran reading program for pre-schoolers as UEM Land's corporate social responsibility program was first mooted by the Board of Bandar Nusajaya Development Sdn Bhd in 2007. This was rooted in the belief that Al-Quran learning is a key element in the life of a Muslim.

While exploring ways to implement this program, we found that Yayasan Islam Terengganu (YIT) had successfully implemented its Pintar Al-Quran Education Program since 2006. Terengganu created history when 937 of its pre-school children that followed the Pintar Al-Quran Education Program successfully read the entire Quran during the Khatam Al-Quran Ceremony, proof of the program’s success. This accomplishment was duly listed in the Malaysian Book of Records. The numbers multiplied last year as 2000 students accomplished the divine task.

The key philosophy of this program is to educate the young to become Al-Quran literate as well as adopting the Al-Quran fundamental values in their daily life.

In 2008, based on YIT's success, UEM Land collaborated with YIT to pioneer its Pintar Al-Quran program for pre-school children of Gelang Patah. UEM Land, with the Department of Social Welfare (KEMAS)'s concurrence, identified five KEMAS kindergartens for this 'pilot' program. UEM Land also engaged the expertise of the Johor Bahru District Islamic Education Office to identify the Al Quran teachers who were then appointed by UEM Land for this program. The classes are conducted daily for one hour on school days,for pre-school children aged 5 and 6 and are offered FREE to the children.

UEM Land's Pintar Al-Quran program underlines the following objectives:

• To contribute to capacity building.
• To build a strong spiritual foundation amongst the pre-school children prior to their entering the first stage of their education in the Primary School through early exposure on the core of Islamic values to be practiced among the future generation of Nusajaya community.
• To instill interest in the pre-school children towards Al-Quran at the tender age of 5 and 6 years old through interactive teaching activities.
• To develop “Ulul Albab” (Al-Quran literate) generation in Nusajaya.

The program kick started with a two–day Teachers' Training Course in June 2008. Sixteen certified religious school teachers were exclusively trained to get them exposed and familiarised with YIT's teaching techniques and methodology. In 2008, 182 students enrolled for the Al Quran program, while in 2009, the number of students has increased to 194.

UEM Land has set a target milestone for the program: to have at least 30% of the children recite the entire 30 chapters of the Al-Quran at the Khatam Al-Quran ceremony that has been planned for September 2009 during Nuzul Quran.