When Kelvin Tan first became a teacher, he first noticed that not all students were lucky enough to have the privilege of having a stable socioeconomic background. Being a ‘Subang kid’ himself, Kelvin acknowledges that he had a great childhood growing up. His parents exposed him to new avenues and instilled various life values in him – things that his students weren’t able to receive from their homes.
Thus, he decided to form a simple project called Project ID.
What does Project ID do?
Simply put, Project ID is a student development and empowerment programme that aims to help students achieve their career aspirations. In its early days, Project ID was kick-started as a simple school-based initiative and now, it has evolved into a full-fledged social enterprise.
Project ID in its early days.
The Project ID team consisted of former and current teachers and educators who are dedicated to creating an impact on our local students. Staying focused on their main inspiration to inspire students from low-income communities and help them pursue their dreams, they would organise workshops, camps and trips that are all focused on empowering Malaysian students by:
- Inculcating positive values in them
- Building up their mental, emotional and life skills
- Exposing them to new knowledge that could inspire their future
From starting with just one school, Project ID then started going to other schools to run their programmes, travelling to other states just to meet with students from all backgrounds.
Project ID goes online
When schools had to be shut down during the MCO, it was definitely challenging for Project ID to continue their programmes. But refusing to give up, they used up all of their resources and launched Project ID Online just 3 days after the MCO was announced. And what first seemed like a hurdle turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
One of Project ID Online’s programmes being carried out in a Zoom session.
“Being online gives us a chance to delve deeper into understanding the problems of online learning,” said Kevin during his conversation with WORLD OF BUZZ. In fact, they even used this opportunity to run a survey called “Your Voice Matters” where they gathered a total of 700 respondents consisting of secondary school students to answer a set of questions. The findings of this questionnaire were then published into three-part articles that discuss all the students’ viewpoint on online learning.
Other than that, some of the online programmes that Project ID offers include:
- Online Career Sharing – Students can connect with industry professionals to find out about various career paths.
- Workshop Series – Interactive workshops that aim to develop crucial skills such as emotional management, time management and more.
- CEO Series – Students can connect with industry leaders to learn from their leadership skills and career journey.
- Sembang Lepak Session – A platform for students to meet others from the around the country and literally sembang and lepak about current affairs.
Datuk Nicol David was one of the speakers for their CEO Series.
At the time of the interview, Project ID mentioned to WOB that they’ve carried out 52 programs and gotten around 1,100 students participation who have given an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 for the programmes. They’d even receive overflowing applications from the students whenever they announced a new schedule lined up.
When asked what they think of this overwhelming response, Kelvin and his team answered that it could be accredited to the fact that they recently got endorsed by the Ministry of Education for their online programmes. “We also think it’s possible because there are no extracurricular activities being held during this MCO period, which explains why the students would be excited to learn about us and join our programmes.”
“Another thing we noticed is that we accidentally created an online community where these students could join and socialise even though it’s only their first time meeting each other. It’s quite an amazing sight to see,” added Kelvin’s team.
If we look back, school was definitely fun because of all the great friends we got to meet every day. So, it’s awesome to see that these kids have a channel to hop onto where they could improve their social and communication skills.
Creating an impact on our youths
What sets Project ID apart from other educational programmes is that they focus on uplifting interpersonal skills of the students, which is something that gets often overlooked when we prepare these kids for the outside world. Our society tends to put too much emphasis on academic achievements that we’d sometimes neglect to train our kids’ simple values like how to talk in front of a crowd or how to manage our time better.
When asked what Project ID hopes to achieve through these online programmes, creating an impact remains their main philosophy. Considering that they would not be carrying out any physical activities for anytime soon, these online programmes will be their main focus until things get better.
“Our online programmes also seem like a popular choice among our students”, added Kevin. “Previously, we’d always get requests by eager students to attend their schools. So by going online, it’s a good solution to this problem and we can also reach more students in an easier manner.”
However, the team did share their concern for the less fortunate students with a poor internet connection (or none at all!) who are unable to join their programmes. Hence, Project ID is actively working to craft various online programmes on diverse platforms that can cater to students with varying levels of internet access so they can reach as many students as they can during these trying times.
Here at WORLD OF BUZZ, we definitely command the Project ID team for their endless contribution to empowering our youths. One thing’s for sure, if there was a platform like Project ID when we were younger, a lot of us would enjoy school a lot more!
If you’d like more info on Project ID or if you’d like to recommend them to anyone you know, you can visit their website, or give them a follow on social media (which they actively update) on Instagram & Facebook.
Also read: 35yo M’sian Teacher Uses Own Money To Buy Food For Struggling Students Amidst CMCO
