RCE Iskandar creates low carbon awareness amongst pupils

RCE Iskandar, in collaboration with many stakeholders and ESD experts, successfully organized the Iskandar Malaysia Ecolife Challenge (IMELC) 2015. The initiative included Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), the Iskandar Region Development Agency (IRDA), the Johor State Education Department (JPNJ), IM KIKO Pte. Ltd., and all 226 primary schools that are partners of RCE Iskandar.

IMELC 2015 was launched on 19 May 2015 for the schools to start running two modules from June to August of the same year. The themes of the two modules were “water and electricity saving” and “recycling”. After the national examination of Year 6 students, an “Ecolife Challenge workbook” module was conducted until the end of October. In November, 15 schools were selected for a final presentation, based on their score of all three modules. Each final presentation was held by a group of 4-5 students to present their findings and practices during the challenge.

IMELC intends to create low carbon awareness among students through ESD. All teachers involved received a training session given by Prof. Fatin Aliah Phang from UTM to prepare them on how to deliver the three modules. All schools were required to develop campaigns to reduce their electricity and water bills and recycle as much waste as possible during the three months given June to August.

The Ecolife Challenge was a great success: in September and October alone, about 27,000 of all Year 6 students had completed the Ecolife Challenge workbook, which covered a wide range of topics. Examples included information on climate change and carbon emissions, a self-check survey on low carbon practices, household accounting on the use of electricity, water and electricity bill calculation, vehicle mileage tracking, recycling, renewable energies and self-reflection. By the end of October, all schools had submitted their bills, recycling receipts and completed workbooks.

SJKC Masai School won the first prize which was an educational visit to Kyoto, Japan. SJKC Kuo Kuang came in second and SK Kempas received the third prize, while SK Cahaya Masai was awarded the Judges’ Choice Award.

Photos of the event can be found on facebook.

Region: 
Country: 
Malaysia