Education should be made available {0 everyone. We 2 are a modest student- Jed initiative that aims to improve the usage of English amongst Malaysian students from less-fortunate backgrounds. By doing this, we sincerely hope to tackle the education divide between the urban and rural children of Malaysia. We realize the enormity of this task, but we believe that our goals are achievable through the relentless spirit of our committee members and facilitators. An equal chance at a good education opens doors for young people, and we see our movement as a tiny, but sure step in helping solve the wider problem of poverty plaguing our society. Our focus also lies on students from high-performing schools, and this, we believe, is necessary in tackling the problem at both extremes. We weicome all Malaysian university students studying locally or globally to join us. This is the reason why we are committed to organise 2 major programmes, Kalsom English Enrichment Programme and Kalsom Scholarship Workshop, which aim to address students from two different extreme ends. For more info, please visit www.projek-kalsom.org.

We hope our effort will help to address the social gap in the future, as the task ahead is not an overnight change.

Our pillars and objectives have been revamped into 2, to ensure a more focus and strategic approach:

1. Usage of English language. It is no secret that the usage of English amongst students from less-fortunate backgrounds is less than satisfactory. We believe in tackling this problem at its core, as the Malay proverb rightly states, ‘melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya’ (translation: shaping a bambco must start from the shoot). Our aim is to help making learning English as fun, and as simple as possible, making them more aware of the importance of the language.

2. Exposure to post-secondary education opportunities. After SPM, some students are unsure of where they want to head to in life. This resuits into most top scorers choose the wrong career/degree, resulting into poor performance in university. We hope to be of help in this by exposing these students to the myriad of opportunities open to them that suits their various skills and interests.

1.Kalsom English Enrichment Programme for primary school students in Penang to encourage the usage of English language through fun and interactive learning. The programme will be conducted in two days at two different schools.

The schools are selected based on the suggestions given by the State Department of Education. These schools must be under-performance schools based on their results in UPSR English Examination.

3 approaches will be taken to ensure the maximization of the impacts:
Initiate: To first inspire students learning English using postcards.

Involve: To allow facilitators and students to take actions on how to learn English i.e. using dictionary and understanding certain words.

Impact: At the end of the programme, the understanding of the students is assessed by encouraging them to at least be able to write a paragraph of a story, as well as describing the objects in verbal.

2.Kalsom Scholarship Workshop for Form 4 students from high performance schools in Perak.
These schools are selected based on their state ranking in SPM, covering all 3 major types of high schools — boarding schools, MARA Junior College as well as day schools. This workshop will be held as a one-day workshop at each school for 5 days. This workshop will help to expose students to a range of career options and scholarships available. The rationale for the selection of the schools is solely on maximizing the impact of the programme.

2 approaches that will be taken by Projek Kalsom 20. These approaches will be used as the basis of the modules being designed:

1st Inspiring Talents:
Getting the students motivated to be the best in their life, regardless what they choose to do. This is specifically to build the mental and emotional strengths of the participants.

2nd Endeavouring Excellence:
Exposing and developing participants physically to achieve excellence. This will give the strength, attitudes and skills needed to be successful.

All participants of the English Enrichment Programme will be required to take an English test before and after the programme. To maximize the impact, Kalsom Harapan will take place afterwards which will be explained further. Another survey will be conducted after the plan to ensure the effectiveness of our modules. All stakeholders will receive an extensive report regarding the outcome of the programme

For Kalsom Scholarship Workshop, a personality test will be conducted before and after the workshop to see whether the students’ confidence in choosing the career path. Each student will also have a scholarship booklet containing all the information required. Volunteers will also be available through an ontine platform in case any of them requires any assistance. An online scholarship resource will also be available via our website: www.projek-kalsom.org

Projek Kalsom shall continue its efforts until the students finish their SPM and start to enter tertiary education. This programme aims to act as a monitoring scheme for the progress and impact of Projek Kalsom. This is a continuous one-year initiative that begins from the date that Projek Kalsom starts. Under this monitoring system, several mechanisms will be carried out

i. Kalsom Traveling Postcards (for both programmes)

The students will receive postcards from their facilitators throughout the year. This is to keep them motivated in facing their examinations and fife challenges. The timeframe will be from January 2015 until October 2015.

ii. Kalsom Reading Programme (for Kalsom English Enrichment Programme)

Each schoo! will receive a contribution from Projek Kalsom in the form of second-hand books. An English reading competition will be held for 3 months with help from the school teachers. The students will be encouraged to read English books, and will tell the synopsis of the story to their teachers in an oral presentation. The teachers will then record the number of books written by the students. At the end of the 3 months, a reward will be given fo the students who have read the highest number of books.

iii, Kalsom Online Resource and Booklet (for Kalsom Scholarship Workshop)

An online resource and booklet containing all the information required will be provided on the website. This is an effort by all facilitators to compile all information they have about the scholarships to make it easier for students to use as reference. A brief overview of the website can be viewed from: www.projek-kalsom.org