SARAWAK: Astro Kasih, the Sustainability arm of Astro today presented RM40,000, school bags and books to the students at SK Sungai Paku, Kapit.  Astro’s Group CEO, Henry Tan made the presentation based on proceeds from Astro’s Walk for Education to the headmaster of SK Sungai Paku, Cikgu Timbang.

In championing equal access to education for all, Astro Kasih built a hostel for SK Sg Paku in 2012 equipped with facilities with the aim to encourage higher student enrolment from the surrounding villages. The school serves a population of 1,000 from five nearby villages within a radius of 1km to 30km. Currently student enrolment stands at 38.

Henry Tan, Astro’s Group CEO said “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. Our Walk for Education held in May this year, upheld this belief and we wish to thank those who supported us with their generosity. As promised, all proceeds from the event totalling RM140,000 and over 2,000 school bags and learning materials have been handed to our 3 Astro hostels in SK Sg Paku, SK Malinsau and Sk Magandai as wel as Starfish Foundation in Sabah and Sarawak.”

Cikgu Timbang from SK Sg Paku said “We are pleased that Astro is bridging the education gap by using its platform, content and resources to help students in remote areas access learning. Our students have experienced positive outcomes in their academic performance thanks to the hostel and the learning content on Astro Ceria, Discovery Channel, Astro Tutor TV SK and many more. We hope that more corporates will join in and support this good cause.”

Cikgu Bija, a teacher in SK Sungai Paku, shared “Since the hostel was built, the students’ education has shown improvements of 100% passing rates for all papers in 2018 and another 100% 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. The challenges the school face are transportation and economy. For instance, the journey for students from the school to Rumah Tang during weekends is 1 hour via long boats. And 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.”

In addition to the Astro hostels, Astro Kasih has also collaborated with Starfish Malaysia Foundation by providing access to its TV services and education content to five hostels and one community centre in East Malaysia.