CIMB Foundation-Teach For Malaysia partnership positively impacts more than 3,000 primary and secondary students across Malaysia

07 June 2023

The partnership is committed in overcoming education inequity through meaningful programmes  

Kuala Lumpur: CIMB Foundation continues its partnership with Teach For Malaysia (“TFM”) to enable access to quality education for students across Malaysia through high impact programmes. Since 2021, the partnership has successfully brought positive impact to over 3,000 students in primary and secondary schools across the nation, as well as trained 20 Fellows to be high calibre educators to support high-need schools within the government education system. TFM’s key initiatives include the TFM Fellowship, Learn-From-Home modules, KelasKita and Program Komuniti Perkasa. 

Ahmad Shahriman Mohd Shariff, Acting Chief  Executive Officer of CIMB Foundation, said, “CIMB Foundation is pleased to support TFM and its programmes towards achieving equitable access to quality education for all. This aligns strongly with one of our core pillars, Education, where we hope to build a resilient learning platform for students. We strongly believe that all children have the right to a quality education, regardless of their socio-economic background. That change should start in the classroom, where educators can directly inspire and leave a meaningful impact on the students and communities they live in.”  

Chan Soon Seng, CEO of TFM said, “We believe that quality education is the most powerful tool for all children and young people to realise their potential. We are grateful for CIMB Foundation’s support, which has been instrumental in Teach For Malaysia's expansion to PPR communities in Selangor, Orang Asli communities in Perak, and districts in Sarawak. As a strategic partner of TFM, CIMB Foundation enables us to remain committed to mobilising leaders who will ensure that crucial changes are made in our education system, to ensure every child has an equitable opportunity to access quality education.”

CIMB Foundation supports several programmes by TFM which comprise the following:

Teach For Malaysia Fellowship

Teach For Malaysia's flagship Fellowship is a two-year Leadership Development Programme where aspiring leaders are placed in high-need government schools in rural and underserved communities to expand student outcomes while developing the skills and understanding of the education system. After the programme, Fellows continue to drive systematic impact in education as Alumni. Since the programme's inception in 2012, the movement now comprises of 495 Fellows and Alumni, has contributed to 219 education initiatives and founded 12 social impact organisations. Teach For Malaysia expanded to also place Fellows in Orang Asli majority schools in 2022 and will be expanding to Sarawak in June 2023. 

Learn From Home programme

This pillar of education is delivered through online learning modules on FrogAsia’s online and mobile platforms which are aligned to the government syllabus. Developed by TFM and YTL Foundation, it was a key mode of learning for students during the lockdown and continues to be a resilient learning system where students can access high quality learning resources that are aligned to the curriculum, at any time. Since its introduction, this platform has been accessed over one million times covering lessons in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mathematics and Science for Standard 1 to Form 5. A total of 993 modules have been developed through the partnership between YTL Foundation, CIMB Foundation and Teach For Malaysia as at the end of 2022. The Learn From Home programme was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Constellations Awards 2022 by the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN), Asia’s leading social investment network. 

KelasKita and Program Komuniti Perkasa

KelasKita is an online learning programme that allows educators to provide tuition through volunteers in local communities while Program Komuniti Perkasa (“PKP”) targets students living at Program Perumahan Rakyat (“PPR”) to take ownership of their learning through goal setting workshops. Together, these programmes provide support to students through the involvement of parents, mentors, and volunteers. PKP was recently run for students living in PPR HICOM, Shah Alam and PPR Seri Kota, Cheras. To date, a total of 500 students have been the beneficiaries of these programmes, aided by 11 community leaders, 75 mentors and 81 parents.