NEC supports Environmental Education Exchange Programme - NEC World Children Nature Club

Malaysian school children gets to interact with kids in Japan via Internet

MALAYSIA, 24 June, 2008 – NEC Corporation, a leading supplier of information and communications technology, sponsored the “NEC World Children Nature Club” - an environmental education exchange programme for kids in Japan and Malaysia from 20 - 22 June 2008, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

Themed as “Environmental Education Exchange Programme”, the 3-day programme was held at Lake Toya in Hokkaido, Japan and the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sabah Forestry, Malaysia. The natural Lake Toya is inside Shikotsu-Toya Natural Park, with the Mt Showa Shin-zan and wild brown bears in the forests and fields, while the tropical forest at RDC is the natural habitat for various wild animals such as the orang-utan.

A total of 21 kids of ages between 10 - 13 years old (12 boys & 9 girls) from Malaysia, and 20 kids between 10 - 12 years old (10 boys & 10 girls) from Japan participated in this programme. Under this programme, the children learnt about the natural and social environment they study and live in within their home country and exchanged what they have learnt via Internet teleconferencing. Through such cross-cultural exchange, the children were also able to learn about the culture and environment from each other’s country. (Refer to Annexes for details and pictures of the 3-day programme)

This is the second such programme organized by NEC Corp, with the first programme being held at Kiyosato, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, and the RDC in Malaysia in February 2008. NEC plans to continue such programmes on a regular basis, to create a learning opportunity for children to be in touch with the real natural environment, with the intention to raise the awareness about the natural environment between schooling children of different countries so that they can experience two very different natural environments and exchange information through the Internet. The environmental issue is one that requires human efforts and cross-border cooperation between nations. Through this programme, NEC hopes to create an opportunity to raise the awareness and concern for the environment between countries, and thus set a global vision on environmental awareness for the next generation of children who will be the future leaders.

NEC, being a leading technology provider, capitalizes on the use of information technology (IT) to explore the various environmental activities and how IT can be used for environmental education. In addition, with the upcoming G8-summit to be held at Lake Toya (host country is Japan), NEC hopes to raise awareness and support for environmental education and understanding of international education through its support of the “NEC World Children Nature Club”.