MAXIS CYBERKIDS NATIONAL CHALLENGE 2011 RECOGNISES CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

Interactive online learning website by SMV Sg. Buloh, Selangor claims top prize worth RM15,000 as the school with the best project

Kuala Lumpur, 20 December 2011

Maxis Berhad (‘Maxis’), Malaysia’s leading integrated communications service provider, continued its commitment to develop and enrich the community through its flagship programme, Maxis Cyberkids. The programme, which was launched in 2002 in partnership with Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan (KPKK) has reached out to 1,500 schools with more than 8,500 students and teachers nationwide; equipping them with the basic knowledge of ICT applications and Internet tools. The current Maxis Cyberkids Camp syllabus imparts familiarity with Internet exploration with the use of email and public multimedia services. The training also includes familiarisation with the Maxis Cyberkids Portal, which is now accessible on mobile devices. The Portal is constantly evolving in its integration of interactive applications making it easy to blog and to participate in a forum or to manipulate rich media, as well as providing a rich resource of games and other engaging e-learning materials.

This year, the Maxis Cyberkids programme held its camp activities for 15 selected schools in July. These participating schools were then given the opportunity to innovate, develop and promote projects that they worked on during the Cyberkids Camps at the Maxis Cyberkids National Challenge. A total of six schools successfully qualified for the Maxis Cyberkids National Challenge 2011 finals, which took place earlier this month at Maxis Academy. The schools were SMK Air Putih, Pahang, SMT Bkt Mertajam, Pulau Pinang, SMK Tengku Mahmud, Terengganu, SMV Sg. Buloh, Selangor, SMK Bukit Rambai, Melaka and SMK Jelai (Felda), Negeri Sembilan.

The students and teachers from the winning school, SMV Sg Buloh, together with Azmi Ujang, Maxis’ Senior Vice President of Human Resources (4th from left) and Mariam Bevi Batcha, Maxis’ Vice President of Corporate Affairs (3rd from left).

SMV Sg. Buloh from Selangor was named the winner of the Maxis Cyberkids National Challenge 2011 at the event closing ceremony held recently. SMV Sg. Buloh bested the other five schools with their winning project, an interactive, online learning website consisting of programming and development tools which offers a classroom environment in the form of a syllabus, notes, forums, quizzes and assessments. SMV Sg. Buloh took home a prize worth RM15,000, comprising RM5,000 cash and the ‘Maxis Cyberkids @ School Programme’ worth RM10,000 which consists of Maxis Cloud, training and e-learning to help the schools further develop their project ideas and integrate technology into their learning.

The first runner-up was SMK Air Putih from Pahang and second runner-up was SMK Jelai (Felda) from Negeri Sembilan. Both schools received cash prize of RM4,000 and RM3,000 respectively, together with ‘Maxis Cyberkids @ School Programme’ worth RM10,000. The remaining three schools each won consolation prizes worth RM1,000.

All of the students and teachers of the Maxis Cyberkids National Challenge 2011, together with the senior management of Maxis and representatives from the Ministry of Education.

Speaking at the event, Azmi Hj Ujang, Maxis’ Senior Vice President of Human Resources. Said, “As Malaysia’s leading integrated communications service provider, we believe in harnessing leading-edge technology and innovation to create value for the economy, society and the environment in which we operate. With our education initiatives for the community, we aim to contribute towards building a knowledgeable, skilled and innovative human capital, and encourage lifelong learning. Our award-winning Maxis Cyberkids programme, which will enter its 10th year next year, continues to spread ICT knowledge to all corners of Malaysia, supporting the Government’s call to bridge the digital divide in the country. Our hope is that the participants of Maxis Cyberkids will go on to share what they have learned during the Camps with members of their community, hence making the programme self-sustainable with a multiplier effect.”

An interesting aspect of this year’s National Challenge was the fact that students developed projects that were relevant to their school’s environment, which have the potential to change the way the students learn. Some of these projects involve the developments of e-learning content via open-source applications, e-learning curriculum for hearing-impaired students, and a Learning Management System (LMS), among others.

The Maxis Volunteers for the Maxis Cyberkids Programme.

“Winning the Challenge came as a complete surprise to us as we were competing against very good projects from the other schools. This win will surely motivate us to continue imparting knowledge to others. We also thank our dedicated teachers and classmates who were a great strength to us, especially so when the project was coinciding with our final exams,” the students from SMV Sg. Buloh said collectively, with regards to winning for best project.

This year’s Maxis Cyberkids programme also saw the participation of 22 Maxis employees who volunteered as facilitators for the Maxis Cyberkids Camp, in line with Maxis’ belief in involving its employees to participate in Corporate Responsibility initiatives organised by the Company.