In Malaysia, the awareness of dyslexia is not up to par as autism awareness. Most parents are not aware of the basic signs or symptoms that their children may show. This problem, if not curbed from the beginning, will destroy the future education of dyslexic. The process of identifying dyslexia is important so that early intervention can be carried out to help dyslexic students. The formal diagnostic process of dyslexia through medical centers and hospitals will take between 6 months to 1 year. This process involves many tests, evaluations and so on to be sure of the existence of learning problems in children. This long process can be aided with the use of the Dyslexia Symptom Intervention Screening (SISD) instrument by parents and teachers. In context of this project, we aim to spread awareness among the Sri Serdang community of Selangor. This is due to the increase of remedial and special education classes in government schools in this area. Also, a similar project called "Dyslexia Symptoms Identification Programme" was conducted in 2020 and through the programmes, we have observed that most teachers who are also parents have a weak understanding on dyslexia and how they can help their children. A total of 130 participants attended the programme at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The programme was organized in collaboration with Malaysia Dyslexia Association and Selangor State Education Department (Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Selangor). In this dyslexia awareness program, the Dyslexia Symptom Intervention Screening (SISD) in the form of a book "Buku Panduan Simptom Disleksia" published by UPM Press will be shared to all participants who attend. This instrument has been validated in a total of 39 schools in the Sepang district and successfully identified 5 dyslexic students. The instrument was shared to the Institute of Teacher Education, namely the Malay Language Campus, Kedah Darul Aman Campus and Raja Melewar Campus with a total of 594 student teachers participating. Not only that, this SISD has also been shared in the Dyslexia Knowledge Transformation Program involving 156  national schools throughout Selangor.

AtmoBloom: From Scrap To Sky From Scrap To Sky. We will bring scrap that we commonly see in household item waste such as plastic bottles and paint buckets, into something that we can use to provide food to the table. The name of our project title is AtmoBloom. Atmo refers to the word "atmosphere," which highlights our implementation of aeroponics techniques in planting. It is a method where the roots of the vegetables are suspended in the air instead of soil or water. Besides that, "atmo" also refers to our vertical tower aeroponic system, which allows the plant to grow in the atmosphere. Bloom indicates the green vegetables that will bloom within our vertical tower aeroponics system. We will be collaborating with Pertubuhan Rumah Anak Yatim dan Asnaf Kampung Sijangkang to install the aeroponic vertical towers at their place. Our project is about creating awareness on sustainability as we use recycled materials to build the vertical towers. We want to engage with the students to give exposure about agriculture and sustainable practices. Apart from that, we will be creating activities with the students to develop self-determined learners. The reason why we use vertical farming is because it is  a space-saving farming method. By doing vertical farming, we can harvest roughly around 36 plants per tower.  Our vertical tower is different from other commercial vertical towers in that we use recycled plastic bottles as the tower structure. We will stack our vertical tower and customise it to have slots to put the netting pot. This is one of the initiatives for us to reuse the common waste in our country, plastic bottles. Apart from that, we will be using a biofertilizer which is Effective Microorganisms (EM). EM is a blend of microorganisms that will enhance the soil quality and quality of crops. This EM solution will be mixed into the water in the container as well as nutrient solution.

SK Dato’ Harun 1 is a school situated in Petaling Jaya. Learners who attend the school are mostly urban poor learners, orphans, and also from the M40s in general. These learners have low confidence, lack English proficiency and communication skills. Based on our interview with their teacher, Ustaz Faizul Razali, they struggle to share their opinions and thoughts due to their surroundings that do not provide them a safe space to speak English. They feel unmotivated and shy to speak when among their friends who are more eloquent. Due to these issues, they function a few levels below their peers when asked to engage in English. Thus, Dr Adelina, our head of project, has created PEARL, a project that aims to help these learners improve their second language acquisition, self confidence, and love for language by providing a safe space for them to acquire the language skills. The volunteers for the project are three B Ed TESL students of Universiti Malaya who are pedagogically trained in teaching and assisting second language learners. Nearby, is a mosque with a nazir who is interested in assisting with the education of these children. The mosque is Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya. The mosque provided a comfortable hall to conduct all the lessons. Learners explore the art of the English language through readers’ theatre, puppetry, games, plays, storytelling and many more. Nevertheless, post-pandemic, the volunteers realised that there is a need to add to the skills that were lacking among these urban poor learners. They were financially illiterate and surrounded by adults who are equally financially illiterate as well. They lack an understanding of many financial aspects. This comprises elements such as saving, investing, budget planning, and many more. They are not able to tell the difference between needs and wants, spending and saving, and investment and wastage. Furthermore, these poor learners are also raised in households which do not emphasise the importance of spending money wisely. For instance, we discovered that the parents of these children often use their money on unnecessary things which they can barely afford. When given an imaginary budget for the learners to make choices on things they would spend on, our team found  that they would rather spend their money on things that they do not need. This further emphasised the importance of teaching financial literacy skills to young learners. This is a concern as in general more cases on youth bankruptcy have been recorded in Malaysia over the past years. Auction-a-Pearl is an extension of the Pearl4PJ Project (MBPJ, 2021) focusing on communicative English through play, drama, poetry etc and Pearly Starfish (My Starfish Foundation, 2022), focusing on English language acquisition through digital literacy.  Auction-a-Pearl aims to help these learners understand their learning needs by exposing them to financial literacy whilst using communicative English. We believe that by helping the learners pragmatically engage with topics related to financial literacy, we are able to provide quality education to the learners while enhancing their knowledge of the English language. As delivery will be through English and using ICT, financial literacy could be potentially developed among the urban poor learners in a 21st Century setting.   

Used Cooking Oil or "UCO'' are oils originating from household, commercial or industrial food processing operations, that have been used for cooking or frying.UCO from households, food premises such as cafeterias and restaurants are among the main contributors to water pollution. Pollution originating from UCO occurs due to:1)    UCO that are thrown into the sink can clog drains and sewers, ruin septic tanks.2)    The freezing method of UCO into solid state and throwing it along with solid waste and lastly end up in the landfill. The problem here is at a certain temperature the solidified oil will melt and pollute the landfills.The most significant problem that occurs from the improper management of UCO is indeed the environmental issues, particularly in water and soil pollution. When UCO ultimately ends up reaching the natural water reserves, it is severely harming aquatic and marine life. It has been found to kill the fishes, birds, plants and other aquatic life forms by coating them with oily layers, literally reducing their ability to breathe, thus choking them to death.There is better way to manage UCO by recycling them. This approach has environmental and economic benefits. In brief, public can sell UCO to the UCO recycling agencies for biofuel production as a sustainable replacement for petroleum-based diesel. As for environmental benefits, there will be less pollution from reduced disposal of UCO and less natural resource extraction for diesel production. In terms of economic benefits, public can generate extra income from recycling their UCO. The current selling price of UCO in Malaysia is around RM1.50-RM2.50 kilogram.However, not many knows about the benefits of recycling UCO. The awareness among public is still lacking. For that reason, we have to instil their awareness on recycling UCO for the betterment of the environment and as well for the better livelihood of the public. Hence a program will be held to provide awareness and knowledge to the public on recycling UCO. As a pilot program, the focus of this program will be a residential community in Taman Sri Bayu, Tampan Pantai Sepang, Taman Sri Sungai Pelek, and Kampung Bagan Lalang. 

Star of the Sea Kindergarten, located in Pangkor, provides informal education for children aged 4 to 6 years. Currently, around 40 to 50 children from the remote island attend the kindergarten. Operated by the Parish of St. Francis de Sales Church along with two other kindergartens, it has not seen any maintenance or renovation in the last 40 years.Over time, the lack of maintenance and safety measures has led to a deteriorated school environment. The outdated classrooms and limited facilities have hindered the teaching and learning experience. This project aims to enhance the quality of education through interior architecture by revitalizing the learning playscape and the entire school.

PROJECT BACKGROUNDThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) state that the promotion and achievement of gender equality has become one of the important global goals for a sustainable future. The goal is to eliminate any form of gender inequality that can cause a huge waste of human potential. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) considers Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE- Comprehensive Sex Education) as a critical driver to achieve gender equality (UNESCO, 2019). CSE is defined as an age-appropriate, culturally relevant approach to teaching about sexuality and relationships by providing scientifically accurate, realistic, and non-judgmental information (UNESCO, 2015). In Malaysia, sexuality education has existed for over a decade. However, many available studies show many challenges that hinder the achievement of gender equality. Recent studies have also shown that an average of 18,000 teenage girls in Malaysia become pregnant each year. Of this number, 25 percent or about 4,500 cases involved pregnancies outside of marriage (The Star, 2022). JUSTIFICATION OF COMMUNITY PROBLEMS/NEEDSGender equality is not only confined to human rights but also important in accelerating sustainable development project progress (United Nations, 2022). According to Johari Talib et. al (2012), comprehensive sex education (CSE) can empower boys and girls to understand and respect their physical differences and make wise choices related to their rights and responsibilities by providing them information that comes with the decision to be together, have children, control over their bodies, and make informed decisions in their lives. CSE is regarded as a tool to foster gender equality and norms, at the same time preventing and eliminating all forms of discrimination that women and girls face. The Malaysian education system has introduced sex education in a limited perspective. Mohd Mutalip and Mohamed (2012), reported that sex education in schools acceptance among adolescents is moderately high and agree to be applied to school subjects where it can curb social problems among young people in the country. Sexual education is still stigmatised in Malaysia, teenagers are observed to have difficulty in finding a safe space to have an open conversation and obtain the proper answers and receive help about sexual and reproductive health. They engage in online activities and are exposed to a lot of sexual content from social media. According to a study conducted by Durex Malaysia (online survey) in the month of April to May in 2022, it is not surprising that 60% of the respondents learned about sex by reading articles, viewing films and videos, while 62% had sex for the first time at age 22 years and under. The same study showed that 40% of young people feel pressured to engage in sexual activity, yet almost half (42%) do not use condoms or other birth control methods, which results in one in every 20 women experiencing an unwanted pregnancy. Concerns related to gender-based violence, sexual harassment, rape, mental health issues and domestic violence are a reflection that gender equality has failed to be achieved at the household level. With the arguments above, this community project intends to dismantle the implementation of sexual education in Mambau, Negeri Sembilan to assist each teen in understanding their own value. OBJECTIVESOur main objective is to achieve gender equality and empower teenage girls and boys to understand and respect their physical differences and make wise choices related to their rights and responsibilities by providing exposure to teenagers regarding gender equality based on scientific information that can encourage them to be responsible, ethical and respectful of others. Our main goal is to eliminate the hyper-sexualization of the word sex and everything related to it. The modules are carefully designed using social media platforms and the use of Virtual Reality (VR) simulation tools to equip teenagers of all ages with the confidence and resilience to make fact-based and scientifically informed decisions about their well-being and boundaries.To create awareness to safeguard children from child marriages and unwanted pregnancies due to lack of knowledge, ultimately, teen pregnancy cases, baby dumping and underaged rape cases will be reduced. Young people, especially girls will be aware of their self-esteem, have the capacity to change social attitudes and norms, and build self-efficacy, which will lead to economic empowerment and development of the society. Helping underprivileged children to have opportunities to learn, gain knowledge about sexual issues and social issues. This platform aims to alleviate the stigma involving women empowerment and sexual education among the underprivileged due to their lack of capacity to receive good quality education and correct information about the topics. 

There are many, many thousands of street cats in Malaysia. It can be found everywhere in Malaysia. Street cats include stray cats and feral cats, are mostly mixed breed cats. Feral cats refer to the cats that have lived in the wild for long time without an owner while stray cats refer to the cats that have been adopted by people, then abandoned for some reason, and breed on their own after abandonment. Therefore, survival rates for stray cats are low because they do not know how to forage like feral cats. Furthermore, they do not know what they can and cannot eat. Many well-meaning people take pity on street cats and often feed them on the street. However, we need to know that protecting street cats requires not only “love”, but also proper management. While giving love to cats, people who love cats should also show rational thinking and actions to ensure the surrounding environmental hygiene when feeding street cats.Let's focus in Taman Bendahara, Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan. In this area, there about 25 to 30 street cats living here. Many nearby residents, students or shopkeepers will feed them but in an improper way. For example, they will lefts the cat food directly on the ground. Although some of them will put the cat food in a container but after that the container will be thrown aside and no one cares. It is not only bad for cats, it will also destroy the environmental hygiene.  Other than that, leaving cat food on the floor will also lead to waste. This is because the cat food might be contaminated or wet from the rain and cats can no longer eat it. If it continues to be ignored over the time, it might cause more problems such as diseases that caused by environmental hygiene. Therefore, as a student studying and living in this area. We decide to do what we can to help the cats and also the community. The purpose of this project is to place 8 cat feeders at 8 specific spots in this area. The cat feeders will be made by ourself using the UPVC pipes. With the cat feeders, street cats can have fixed place and container to eat and no need to worry about cat food being soaked by rain. The design of the cat feeder allows at least two cats to eat at the same time. In addition, having cat feeders can also improve current environmental hygiene. Furthermore, the cat feeders also convenient for the well-meaning people who want to feed the cats. 

The title of this project, “The ‘WE’ Double ‘E’” is derived from the short form “WEEE” of Waste from Electrical and Electronic devices which is also known as e-waste. E-waste is any abandoned product that has a battery or socket and contains harmful and poisonous materials like mercury that can seriously endanger both human and environmental health (Geneva Environment Network, 2023). E-waste contains toxic substances, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, and flame retardants, which can harm DNA, cause preterm delivery, skin disorders, hearing loss, dizziness, and shortness of breath, as well as male reproductive and genital abnormalities. The risk of cancer, liver damage, and kidney damage can increase when toxins from untreated e-waste pollute soil, water, and the atmosphere (E-Waste & its Negative Effects on the Environment, 2019). In Malaysia, a total of 280,000 tonnes, or 8.8 kg of electronic garbage per person, were created. E-waste generation in Malaysia is projected to rise as the country moves from a middle-high to high-income status, but the rate of recycling e-waste is lower than the generation of e-waste (E-Waste in Malaysia, 2023). The main idea of this project is to give back to the environment and protect natural resources. For that, the chosen community is the residents of Taman Pantai Sepang Putra, Kampung Bagan Lalang, Taman Sri Bayu and Taman Sri Sungai Pelek. The purpose is to improve their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward e-waste handling and expose them to proper e-waste disposal. The residents are unaware of proper e-waste disposal methods. My project team is initiating an awareness program to give them ideas and knowledge about the importance of the environment by collaborating with  Tan Boon Ming Sdn. Bhd. The reason for choosing residential people is that they are one of the potential contributors to e-waste;Upgrading to newer electronic devices more frequently than necessary,Disposing of old or broken electronics improperly,Not recycling electronic waste properly.

Persatuan Penjagaan Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal Johor Bahru (PPKTAJB) is a home for the special needs community. The organisation was established in 1990. Currently, this charity home accommodates 185 beneficiaries with the age range from 10 to 98 years old. It provides permanent shelter, individual care, health well-being and self-management to the beneficiaries with multiple incurable disabilities such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, mentally challenged and learning difficulties.  Through the interview with the manager, Mr Jeeva, we found that the main issue they are facing is the lack of the number of physical therapists to assist the beneficiaries’ activities. Hence, they only manage to spend most of their time indoors and the space they spend most of their time in is lacking in equipment. This condition is insufficient to improve their physical and mental health conditions. To solve this issue, Theraplay 3.0 team hopes to assist them by promoting survival skills as a support to their daily needs and become less dependent on staff’s assistance through improving their motor skills and social skills. Other than that, providing an indoor green corner is another effort applied to encourage the beneficiaries to get closer to nature and enhance their well-being. By looking into their special needs and sensitivities towards their environment, the sensory experiences will also be another main focus in our design consideration.  In conclusion, we propose designs and activities to enhance the special needs children’s understanding of the world and practice independent life by applying therapeutic approaches hence creating a conducive and healing environment for them.