The Core
Volunteers form an integral part of our project, and they will come from outside the school to tutor the students in small groups. Volunteers consist of working adults, college and university students, and upper secondary students. Volunteers are given ownership and autonomy to decide personal goals and targets for the students they are tutoring; modules are only guides and need not be used if volunteers think there are better ways to teach the students. Thus, volunteers will get an excellent opportunity in learning leadership, leading their small groups towards a target of the volunteer’s choosing. The goal of the project is to have students in our extra classes successfully pass a Mathematics assessment and an English proficiency test by the end of the year to measure their achievement and growth, providing a measure of whether such a student can operate independently in a classroom.
Benefits
Volunteers form an integral part of our project, and they will come from outside the school to tutor the students in small groups. Volunteers consist of working adults, college and university students, and upper secondary students. Volunteers are given ownership and autonomy to decide personal goals and targets for the students they are tutoring; modules are only guides and need not be used if volunteers think there are better ways to teach the students. Thus, volunteers will get an excellent opportunity in learning leadership, leading their small groups towards a target of the volunteer’s choosing. The goal of the project is to have students in our extra classes successfully pass a Mathematics assessment and an English proficiency test by the end of the year to measure their achievement and growth, providing a measure of whether such a student can operate independently in a classroom.
Benefits
Volunteers who join us in the project will gain an excellent leadership opportunity as they mentor and change the life of an underprivileged child. They will have the opportunity to meet and network with other like-minded people who will be joining us as volunteers. Last year, volunteers came from a wide range of backgrounds, from marketing executives in multinational firms to analysts in banks and students from both local and foreign universities and colleges. We believe that this diversity in our pool of volunteers and the networks gained while at the extra classes will help our volunteers in the future. In addition to being teachers in the school, students who volunteer for 10 or more extra classes in a year are eligible to receive certificates from Teach For Malaysia as the organizers of this project are also affiliated with Teach For Malaysia, a non-profit organization.
Future Plans
Currently, the extra classes only comprise of about 20-30 students and 10-15 volunteers. We are hoping to scale this up to about 70-90 students and 40-50 volunteers. To ensure that this occurs, we’re aiming to build solid foundation over the next 2 cycles and building partnerships with universities, colleges or corporate bodies to increase the number of volunteers who will tutor and mentor underprivileged kids.
