In 2012, the Global Partnership for Education estimated that 61 million children across the globe do not attend schools. A contributing factor to this is the lack of equipment for the children to begin their learning process smoothly. Apart from good teachers, literacy depends on a few fundamentals, students need pencils, uniforms, tables and chairs before effective learning can even begin.
Keeping this in mind, RYTHM Foundation reached out to the primary school students in Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Ladang Chemor, Perak, and provided them with 30 sets of tables and chairs to give them a more comfortable classroom environment to study. Also, to support the work of the teachers and staff, three printers were given to the school. Founded in 1930, SJKT Ladang Chemor is located in Ladang Gunung Kuang, Perak, and currently has 92 students. Most of the students come from low-income families.
For 10-year old Yumeisha, the new tables and chairs make her more excited about coming to school every day to study. “I’m happy that we have nice new tables and chairs, the classroom makes me feel happy now!”
Senior Assistant of Student Affairs, Mr Uthaya Chandran said most of the parents struggle to make ends meet with their job as hard laborers. “A total of 82 of the 92 students in our school come from families that are under the B40 category, earning under RM1,200 a month. Some of them are so poor that they can’t even afford to buy school socks and shoes for their kids.”
The new table and chairs have also sparked the interest of parents from other schools to want to send their children to SJKT Ladang Chemor. “From the new applications that we have now, we’re expecting our total number of students to increase from 92 to 110 in 2020, an increase of 18 students.”, Mr Uthaya said.
He added that the school appreciates the assistance given by RYTHM Foundation, as they have been sourcing for funds to acquire this much-needed assistance for some time. “We are glad that our students can now learn more comfortably and our teachers can teach more effectively,” he added.