KUCHING: Projek BacaBaca is actively recruiting volunteers for its third phase, set to commence in mid April, with the aim of helping primary children improve their reading and learning skills.
Targeting students aged six to nine from underserved communities across Malaysia, the project has to date made a positive difference in the lives of 150 children in terms of tackling the issue of learning poverty.
Since 2021, the School of Education at Taylor’s University has been championing Projek BacaBaca – an initiative that pairs volunteers referred to as ‘reading coaches’ with primary school students from B40 and undeserved communities who are affected by learning poverty and the Covid-19 learning gap, in order to improve their reading.
Projek BacaBaca has been ongoing with the steady support of Mah Sing Foundation and Twinkl, impacting children in six communities over the past two years across PPR Seri Alam, Kota Belud, Sungai Way New Village, SJK (T) Ladang Batu Ampat, SJK (T) Pusat Telok Datok and SJK(T) Seaport. This year will witness the project bringing SK Bandar Sunway under its wings.
Projek BacaBaca involves three reading levels: emerging, developing and securing.
The philosophy behind the programme, ‘learning to read, reading to learn’, aims to get children to read and comprehend well and apply this to other school subjects such as Mathematics and Science, so they are not left behind.
Making a difference
For university student and volunteer Theevya Ulaganathan, coaching Thulan Santaran, a Standard 3 student from SJK (T) Pusat Telok Datok in Banting had its challenges initially.
Having a limited attention span, he showed mild signs of ADHD and required different interventions to stay focused throughout the course of a 30-minute reading session.
Thulan was subsequently diagnosed with selective mutism, an anxiety disorder where children are unable to speak around certain people or in certain settings.
“He found it challenging to read and engage with the language, especially in English. I engaged with him by providing kindergarten-level exercises and educational games such as matching pictures with objects and filling in the blanks. The support from his mother was also very crucial to his improvement,” said Theevya.
Despite his learning difficulties, the sessions with his reading coaches and parental encouragement brought a positive change as Thulan received a prize at his school’s award ceremony for making significant progress in his remedial class performance.
Also sharing her family’s experience was Sarah Nuraisyah Abdullah, resident of Sungai Way New Village in Petaling Jaya, and single parent to six-year-old Mohamad Adam.
Prior to Projek BacaBaca, she only managed to teach her son the alphabet sounds as well as two and three letter words.
“I was actively looking for reading programmes to help my son read in English and Bahasa Melayu before he progresses to primary school as he was not responsive when I taught him throughout the pandemic and he is also quite hyperactive. However, Adam was excited to participate in the weekly reading sessions with his reading coach Reshvinder Kaur (Teacher Resh) who also has a young child,” she said.
Reshvinder, who works as a deputy PR director, carries with her the experience and patience with children around Adam’s age, which was a contributing factor to his reading progress along with the relevant enrichment activities she organised.
Through Projek BacaBaca’s curriculum for readers at the emerging stage, Adam learnt about phonics, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) and sight words.
After several months of coaching, he is able to read short passages confidently and independently.
How you can play a part
This year, the third phase of Projek BacaBaca will be commencing in mid April.
The public is welcome to become volunteer reading coaches and play a part in boosting the reading proficiency among students in underserved communities.
Volunteers will be paired with a child from one of the seven selected beneficiaries for a duration of eight months (April to December 2023).
The reading sessions will be held twice weekly in both Bahasa Melayu and English for 30 minutes each, and are to be conducted over the telephone or via online video conferencing should the child be able to access the internet.
According to Hema Letchmanan, project leader of Projek BacaBaca and a senior lecturer at Taylor’s University School of Education, some of the volunteers do not have previous teaching experience.
However, they will be vetted and equipped with periodical training such as managing children, teaching strategies and questioning techniques before beginning their reading sessions.
“We have a diverse mix of people volunteering, ranging from secondary school students to working professionals and even retirees. The pedagogy we use is also straightforward – I read, you read, we read,” she explained.
Phase One of the project saw an improvement of between 64 and 86 per cent in children’s reading ability in Bahasa Melayu and English.
Phase Two which was held last year, marked a further improvement of between 92 and 95 per cent in both languages, a feat achieved in just eight months.
Projek BacaBaca is also one of the endeavours under the Education for All Impact Lab, which champions educational liberation for vulnerable individuals and communities.
Altogether, Taylor’s has introduced 13 Impact Labs to implement purpose learning across the university in its education,research, and advocacy, guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
If you are interested to become a reading coach with Projek BacaBaca, register at tinyurl.com/Taylors-PBB.
