KUCHING: In championing equal access to education for all, Astro Kasih, the sustainability arm of Astro, has built a hostel for Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sungai Paku in Kapit.
It was equipped with facilities with the aim to encourage higher student enrolment from the surrounding villages.
Astro’s Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Henry Tan said the school was serving a population of 1,000 from five villages within a radius of 1km to 30km. Currently, there were 38 students studying there.
“Astro Kasih is committed to championing education to give more opportunities for students living in remote areas to access quality learning and to open their minds for a brighter future,” he said during the Astro Kem Badminton 2022 press conference held at Arena Sukan, Simpang Tiga here today.
“We held our Walk for Education in May this year, upheld this belief and we wish to thank those who supported us with their generosity,” he added.
All proceeds from the event totalling RM140,000 and more than 2,000 school bags and learning materials had been handed to three Astro hostels in SK Sungai Paku, SK Malinsau and Sk Magandai as well as Starfish Malaysia Foundation in Sabah and Sarawak.
“For SK Sungai Paku alone, we have presented RM40,000, school bags and books to the students
through the headmaster of SK Sungai Paku, Cikgu Timbang,” he added.
Additionally, Tan said that the students have experienced positive outcomes in their academic performance due to the hostel built and the learning content on Astro Ceria, Discovery Channel, Astro Tutor TV SK and many more.
“Since the hostel was built, the students’ education has shown improvements of 100 per cent passing rates for all papers in 2018 and another 100 per cent passing rate for Science from 2016 to 2019. This can be attributed to the hostel as students have more time now to focus on extra classes instead of on travelling,” he said.
For instance, he said, the journey for students from the school to Rumah Tang during weekends is an hour via long boats and sometimes depending on the river’s situation, they might miss school as their parents are unable to afford to buy the petrol for the long boat for the journey to school.
“Now that they are living in the hostel, they can use the two hours they used to spend to travel back and forth from their living places to the school, in order to focus on their studies,” he added.
