KUCHING, March 15: SK Luagan in Lawas is among five schools in Malaysia in the running for T4 Education’s USD250,000 (RM1.1 million) World’s Best Schools Prizes in the Innovation Category.
Yayasan Hasanah, a sponsor of the World’s Best Schools Prizes, said each of the schools demonstrated game-changing leadership that transformed the lives of not only the students but also their communities.
“Sarawak’s SK Luagan, a rural school serving a B40 community, will compete in the Innovation Category. Students had dropped out of SK Luagan as roads were submerged under water during the floods.
“As an innovative solution, the school set up Filpen Club, a film-based entrepreneurship programme that taught students the art of film development, marketing and financial literacy, creative expression, and leadership skills while helping to raise funds to purchase a boat,” it said.
The school worked with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to produce multiple award-winning short films highlighting social issues, one of which made it to the international Screamfest Horror Film Festival in the United States of America.
By selling tickets to viewings of their short films, the school raised enough funds to purchase a boat to ferry students to school.
“In the future, the school plans to work with film production companies to highlight the most challenging issues in Sarawak such as nationality, literacy, single parents, floods, and HIV,” Yayasan Hasanah said in a statement today.
The World’s Best School Prizes celebrate the stories of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and making a real difference in their communities.
Participants are shortlisted by a Judging Academy of 207 key opinion leaders from the most prestigious institutions around the world including the World Economic Forum, Harvard School of Education, University of Oxford, London School of Economics, YouTube, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and will be placed for Public Advisory votes later in the year.
Shortlisted schools and their game-changing solutions for education receive coverage from the world’s top news organizations.
The prizes are sponsored by Accenture, Fundacao Lemann, American Express, Yayasan Hasanah, University Camilo José Cela, and Mellby Grad. — DayakDaily
