Established in 2005, Mah Sing Foundation in Mah Sing’s Group Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform. The Foundation celebrates the achievement of Mah Sing Group’s long-term and continuous commitment to being a responsible and active participant in building community partnership both locally
and abroad.
In line with Mah Sing’s Group corporate branding transformation back in 2017, Mah Sing Foundation (MSF) follow suit in transforming its logo with a new vision; Reinventing hope, creating lasting change in children’s lives.
To achieve this, MSF aims to work closely with parents, families and communities to have lasting change and sustainability in the lives of children. The Foundation adopted three (3) new key pillars which focus in Education, Health and Well Being as well as Community Development.
Project Title:
Pondok Iskul for Iskul Sama diLaut Omadal (Iskul)
Iskul is a project to teach Bajau Laut children who don’t have Malaysian citizenship and thus are unable to enroll in government schools. Iskul Sama diLaut Omadal (Iskul) is a community-run project initiated to provide basic literacy for stateless children at Omadal Island, Sabah, Malaysia. The word ‘Iskul’ means ‘school’ in the Bajau language. Iskul’s vision is to build young leaders among the stateless and local community through holistic education. Most of the Bajau Laut children are not able to converse in Bahasa Malaysia and they only speak in native Bajau Language. The main goal of this programme is to provide quality education which includes students’ lessons in Bahasa Malaysia, simple arithmetic and arts, so they can communicate with every layer of Malaysian society.
- Classes are held every weekend, taught by Malaysian schoolgoing youth aged 12-16 also known as the Mastal Arikik (Little Teacher in the Bajau language). In total, there are 32 students who enrolled in the project and percentage of students attending classes have constantly increased. Throughout the project, the kids could write the letters of the alphabet, their names and able to count. It was a joy to see the student’s eagerness in learning and wanting more classes. They also displayed a persistent spirit in completing all test questions despite not knowing the answer.
What impact has this project created in the community/nation?
Pondok Iskul has addressed the focal issues and needs by student and community. Being children of subsistence fisherman, they live without electricity and fresh water and their diets are normally fish and tapioca or rice. This project provides two RM2 meals a week to our students after the classes hoping to supplement nutrition they may lack of in their daily meals. How has this project help to advance the chosen SDG?We strongly agree that every child deserved for education and we understand that stateless children are hungry for education, so we have come out with this project to give them the opportunity to become a better person in future. On another hand, we also get the Bajau children who are living in the same island to conduct the classes for the stateless children and it will be meaningful for the stateless children as they will feel the belongingness from the society.
The tagline for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) is “Leaving No One Behind.” explain how your project helps to realize the commitment of UNSDGs for the future.
Zero Hunger – The stateless children living in the stilt houses off Pulau Omadal without fresh water and electricity and they have no access to free education and health. We provide two RM2 meals a week to our students after the classes hoping to supplement nutrition they may lack of in their daily meals. No poverty – We believe education is the key for the children to lifted out of poverty. The project aims to provide education for children and grow to be leaders of their own community where they can begin mentor other children and champion their statelessness issue. Quality Education- In the indigenous ethnic community and lack of education, it is common for children as young as five to pick up bad habits, like smoking cigarettes and sniffing glue. We would like to educate the children the right things to do and should achieve in their life. Education can even save lives: educated mothers are better informed about specific diseases, so they can take measures to prevent them.
