Sunway Education Group (SEG Chief Education Officer, Professor Elizabeth Lee, recently represented the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF) and SEG at the Teach For Malaysia (TFM) Week Edisi Online (Online Edition) 2021, an initiative which provides TFM partners from government, industry and the private sector a first-hand opportunity to meet students and participate in classroom activities.

Held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Elizabeth was paired with Patrick Emifield, a TFM Fellow from Sarawak who studied Bachelor of Applied Language Studies (English for Professional Communication) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Together with Patrick, Professor Lee taught English to a class of Form 3 (aged 15) students from SMK Segambut, a daily school located about 20 mins from the Kuala Lumpur city center. 

“My hope for semua anak Malaysia is for them to have access to quality education,” said Professor Elizabeth in her TFM Malaysia Day video message. “Regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, whether they are from the cities, or the ‘kampungs,’ or whether they need special care or facilities, no child should be left behind.”

Professor Elizabeth and Patrick approached the session by sharing their dreams, visions, and ambitions. The students, who tuned-in virtually via Google Meet, utilised online learning tools, such as Padlet and the Google Meet chat box, to share their thoughts and ideas. These also enabled those who had limited internet data or were too shy to speak-up to get involved in the session. 

The teachers also played a game called ‘Two Truths and One Bluff’ to encourage participation. Professor Elizabeth posed three statements to the students*; “My ambition was to be a dentist”, “I have once worked as maid” and “I can speak 3 languages”. This led to a sharing moment between her and the students about their life journeys and various experiences they will pick up along the way. One of the students, Amir, shared that he hopes to become a footballer one day and would invite Professor Elizabeth and Patrick to a match in the future.

JCF and SEG are proud to once again be part of TFM Week Edisi Online 2021, as part of its commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), in particular Goal 4 ‘Quality Education.’ TFM’s aim is to “give all children in Malaysia the opportunity to attain an excellent education” and goes hand in hand with one of JCF’s guiding principles which is to provide sustainable quality education to present and future generations of students. 

About Jeffrey Cheah Foundation

The Jeffrey Cheah Foundation is the largest education-focused social enterprise in Malaysia, which owns and governs Sunway Education Group and its 16 educational institutions. Through the unique not-for-profit structure of the Foundation, operating surpluses are ploughed back into the institutions or disbursed as scholarships, research grants and expansion of faculty and facilities to ensure quality education in perpetuity. As of 2021, the Foundation has awarded more than RM570 million worth of scholarships to thousands of deserving students.

JCF's history began in 1997, when Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah established the Sunway Education Trust, which was converted to the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF) in 2010. He transferred his equity in Sunway Education Group’s (SEG) learning institutions worth in excess of RM1 billion today to the Foundation in perpetuity. The Foundation is governed by a distinguished board of trustees with His Royal Highness Sultan of Selangor as its Royal Patron.

About Sunway Education Group: 

Established by Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah AO with the commencement of Sunway College in 1986, the Sunway Education Group (SEG) is a renowned name in Malaysian private education. Owned and governed by the largest education-focused social enterprise in Malaysia – the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF), SEG comprises 18 institutions, including Sunway University, Sunway College, Sunway International Schools, Sunway iLabs and Sunway R&D, Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC). Through these institutions, JCF has to date disbursed over RM570 million in scholarships. In its aim to deliver quality education, and becoming the nation’s international education hub, the institute works closely with partnership, collaborating with world-class partners such as Lancaster University, Le Cordon Bleu International, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, University of Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Visit sunway.edu.my, to find out more about the institutions.

About Teach for Malaysia

Teach For Malaysia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, on a mission to give all children the opportunity to attain an excellent education. We partner with the Ministry of Education to reach high-need public schools. It is one of the 60 partners of the prestigious global education network, Teach For All. 

Since 2012, Teach For Malaysia has been building a transformational movement in our education system by placing the country’s most promising leaders as full-time teachers in some of Malaysia’s most high-need schools to combat education inequity. In 2020, we expanded our work to also train and coach in-service public school STEM teachers through the 2-year Program Duta Guru (PDG). PDG is a development programme with the objective to empower teachers to be highly competent and committed; serving as role models to enhance higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) through STEM education as a foundation to being a competitive nation.

In response to the pandemic, TFM is committed to a 2023 Education Recovery Plan that develops teachers and supports educational stakeholders to navigate the digital divide, socio-emotional wellbeing concerns, on top of adopting innovative teaching techniques and methodologies to engage with students.

Our impact 

The largest pipeline of youth empowerment in education

Since our launch in 2012, our movement of over 583 Teach For Malaysia Fellows, Program Duta Guru Teachers and Alumni, across 9 cohorts has impacted more than 164,200 students in over 308 schools across 10 states in Malaysia.

You can find out more in our 2020 Impact Report.

For more information, please visit 🔗www.teachformalaysia.org.