TO celebrate the festival of lights, the Sunway Group hosted 900 underprivileged Perakian children at the Lost World of Tambun under its #sunwayforgood Deepavali Cheer Programme.
The programme is supported by the Perak Exco Member’s Office, the Perak Education Department, and Friends of Mankind, as an urgent response to studies indicating that there is a high school dropout rate among children in the B40 group.
Sunway City Ipoh executive director Wong Wan Wooi said that the entire initiative was aligned to the Sunway Group’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at sustainable and equitable development without leaving anyone behind.
“Our founder and chairman, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah believes that education offers the best route out of poverty. We hope that by reaching out to these 900 primary students from the B40 group and providing them with school necessities, they will be motivated to pursue education for a brighter future. Our #sunwayforgood initiatives have reached out to 40,000 beneficiaries thus far, and we hope to be able to reach out to 50,000 beneficiaries by the end of the year.”
During the programme on Oct 14, the children from SJK(T) Klebang, SJK(T) Ladang Chemor, SJK(T) Kg Simee, and SJK(T) Ladang Strathisla received school bags, stationery, water and food containers, multivitamins, tooth paste, mouthwash and environmental friendly repurposed soap.
Besides the learning opportunity, the students were also treated to a sumptuous luncheon at the Lost World Hotel.
Sunway Group will also kick-start the Sunway R.E.A.D (Reading Enhances Aspiration and Drive) programme where SJK(T) Klebang’s school library will be refurbished. Apart from the refurbishment, the library will also be equipped with new books.
An ICT Literacy Aid programme is also in the works for 2020 with a focus on digital learning, where students will be taught the basics of information technology and programming skills.
