SMK St Xavier (or more affectionately known as St Xavier’s Institution), though having a rich history in Penang dating back to 1852, continues to be in the forefront of providing quality education for the young generation.

And, in continuing this fine tradition, they have stepped forward to join two of PENANG STEM’s “Talent Pipeline Development Initiatives”, namely the TVET-in-Schools (aka TECH Start) and the STEM Future-Proofing (SFP) Engineering programmes.

Both programmes are targeted at students in form 4 to offer them 2 years of foundation-learning leading to either work-study options (for TVET students) or full-time academic studies (for Engineering track students) post-SPM as technicians or engineers respectively.

23 students joined the first TVET cohort last year and have now proceeded on to the second-year programme while another 25 joined the second cohort. Both cohorts are sponsored by Motorola Solutions and training is conducted by Penang Skills Development Centre.

Another 25 students joined the SFP Engineering programme, sponsored by Inari Amertron and coordinated by Tech Dome Penang. Classes kicked off in July this year with training conducted by lecturers from Inti International College.

Penang Chief Minister, YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow officiated at a simple Sponsorship Recognition Ceremony held at the school hall recently with cheque presentations by Mr Solomon Lorthu (Vice President and Managing Director of Motorola Solutions) and Mr Khor Eng Chuan (Head of Training & Development, Inari Amertron) to Mr Tan Eng Tong (CEO of Penang Skills Development Centre) and Ms Usha Jayahkudy, School of Computing Dean of Inti International College) respectively.

It was witnessed by Mr Richard Chung (General Manager of Penang STEM), Asst State Education Officer, Dr Mohd Siroj, SXI Board Chairman, Mr Victor Tan, Brother Director Jason Blaikie and School Principal Mr Goh Hong Peng.

Congratulations to the participating students for taking that important first step to chart out your future careers.

Pieced together by PENANG STEM under its STEM Talent Pipeline Development initiative to help groom talents to meet the ever-increasing needs of Industry in Penang, the programme will be implemented by 2 of its STEM Centres, namely Tech Dome Penang and Penang Math Platform.

The programme offers 2 tracks (Engineering and Computer Science) for selected schools to choose from. These will be conducted as extra-curricular learning during or after-school hours and are also geared at offering participating students early awareness about possible future careers and early starts to help transition them into professional studies in these fields post-SPM.

Fully sponsored by corporates (mainly MNCs and LLCs), the STEM Future-Proofing (SFP) programme is offered FREE to selected schools for between 20 – 30 students per cohort.

Regular classes and workshops will be conducted by qualified lecturers from established Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) with bootcamps and annual appraisals to be conducted to assess students’ progress and proficiency.

SFP was officially launched by the Penang Chief Minister, YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow on May 13 at our STEM Showcase’23@UOW Batu Kawan and the pilot programme for 2023/4 kicked off with 21 cohorts of just under 500 students from 20 schools having registered.

STEM Future-Proofing

As the name implies, this was meant to be a unique programme to offer the opportunity to upper secondary students (Form 4) to undergo 2 years of foundation-learning in Engineering and Computer Science, leading to options to pursue diploma/degree programmes and much sought-after and rewarding careers in future.

Fully sponsored by corporates (mainly MNCs and LLCs), the STEM Future-Proofing (SFP) programme is offered FREE to selected schools for between 20 – 30 students per cohort.

Congratulations to the participating schools and students

ENGINEERING	COMPUTER SCIENCE
SMJK CHUNG LING	SMJK CHUNG LING
SMJK CONVENT DATUK KERAMAT	SMK (L) METHODIST
SMJK CHUNG HWA	SMJK PHOR TAY
SMK ST. XAVIER	SMK BUKIT JAMBUL
SMK JIT SIN	SMK GEMILANG
SMJK HENG EE (CAWANGAN)	SMK (P) SRI MUTIARA
COMMUNITY CLASS @ MEENAKSHI TEMPLE	SMK PAUH JAYA
	SMK ST MARK
	SMK BANDAR BARU PERDA
	SMJK HENG EE
	SMJK HENG EE (CAWANGAN)
	HAN CHIANG HIGH SCHOOL
	SMK RAJA TUN UDA
	KOLEJ VOKASIONAL BALIK PULAU

Our utmost gratitude to the Pioneer Sponsors for the SFP pilot programme namely:

Inari Amertron
Hotayi Electronic (M) Sdn Bhd
ENSSPM (Shan Poornam Metals)
Pentamaster Corporation Bhd
Analog Devices Sdn Bhd
Plexus Manufacturing Sdn Bhd
Globetronics Technology Bhd
Greatech Technology Bhd
Micron Memory Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Our appreciation also to the following IHLs for joining us as training partners for this exciting programme:

Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC)
INTI International College Penang
Methodist College Kuala Lumpur (MCKL)
UOW Malaysia KDU Penang
Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TARUMT)
DISTED College

Grateful thanks also go out to the following for sanctioning and endorsing the programme:

Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPN)
Malaysia Semiconductors Industry Association (MSIA)
Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM)
Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET)
Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
Technological Association Malaysia (TAM)

Classes have commenced in some of the selected schools with a few more to come on board by early August. To the participating students, congratulations on being in the select group of pioneer students for the STEM Future-Proofing Engineering and Computer Science tracks which, we are confident, will be the catalyst to your future professional careers in related fields

Computer Science @ SMJK Chung Ling

Engineering @ SMJK Chung Hwa

Computer Science @ SMK (L) Methodist

Engineering @ SMJK Chung Ling

Engineering @ SMJK Heng Ee Cawangan Bayan Baru

Sponsorship Recognition Ceremony

SMJK Methodist (L) or MBS recently held a Sponsorship Recognition Ceremony at the school recently to recognise the sponsorship of STEM programmes to be conducted by PENANG STEM and its STEM Centres namely Tech Dome Penang, Penang Math Platform and Penang Skills Development Centre.

The following will be the programmes to be conducted for students of different age groups:

StepUP Initiative
Financial Literacy
TVET-in-schools
STEM Future-Proofing

Except for the TVET initiative, the 3 other programmes were sponsored by illustrious alumni from the school.

For the fourth year running, Dato’ Ooi Boon Chye (former Senior Vice President of Broadcom) sponsored the StepUP Initiative which was targeted at sparking interests in STEM-learning amongst lower secondary students and inspiring more to opt for Science stream when they move on to upper secondary. His personal sponsorship to-date has amounted to RM80,000.

Another illustrious alumni, Dato’ Ong Eng Bin (CEO of OCBC) also chipped into sponsor students for the Financial Literacy programme for forms 3 & 4 students. His personal sponsorship to-date is RM17,800. The programme was aimed at instilling the intricacies of financial management amongst students who wish to pursue future academic studies in finance-related fields or to manage their own businesses.

Dato’ Selva Kumar of Shan Poornam Metals then stepped forward to sponsor form 4 students on a 2-year programme on foundation-learning for students who wish to pursue future academic studies in Computer/Data Science. The sponsorship will amount to RM60,000 (RM30,000 per annum) over 2 years.

Jabil, a Multi-National Corporation and one of the biggest employers in Penang’s industrial zones, took up sponsorship of the TVET-in-schools programme which is also aimed at providing TVET basic skills-learning for form 4 students as foundation towards future studies in technical fields post-secondary. This is in line with the federal government’s push to encourage students to pursue TVET technical careers in the nation’s push towards IR4.0 and the Digital Transformation. Jabil was represented by Senior HR Director, Mr Vejay Subrayan who presented a mock cheque of rM50,000 for the 2-year programme.

Present to officiate at the Sponsorship Recognition Ceremony was Deputy Chief Minister II and Penang STEM Chairman, YB Prof Dr P Ramasamy with Mr Richard Chung (General Manager, Penang STEM) in attendance.

Deputy Director, Tuan Abdul Said Hussain, represented the State Education Department whilst MBS were represented by School Board Chairman, Dato’ Khoo Cheok Sin, other Board members and also Principal, Mr Pethaperumal and teachers of the school.

In his welcome speech, Dato’ Khoo thanked the alumni members for their generosity in sponsoring related programmes for the current students which was a truly heart-warming gesture indeed.

Raising STEM Interests in SMK (L) Methodist (MBS)

SMK (L) Methodist, Penang recently signed a MoU with Penang STEM for the conduct of STEM programmes and activities by Penang STEM centres for lower secondary students in the school under the StepUP Initiative.

This Initiative was launched by Penang Chief Minister, YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow, in Sep 2019 with the objective of offering interesting and fun-learning STEM programmes to schools to spark interests in students in Science & Technology and to inspire more to opt for science streams at upper secondary level.

The Initiative was supported by Multi-National Corporations (MNCs), Large Local Corporations (LLCs) and Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which “adopted” schools by sponsoring the programmes/activities to be taken to schools.

For SMK (L) Methodist, however, the sponsorship was actually personally undertaken by Dato’ Ooi Boon Chye (former Senior Vice-President of Broadcom Inc) an old boy of the school who had earlier stepped forward to support the initiative and to help provide extra-curricular STEM-learning to students in his alma mater.

The MoU was signed earlier between School Senior Assistant, En V. Pethaperumal and General Manager of Penang STEM, Mr Richard Chung (refer pic).

The exchange of signed MoUs was conducted virtually in the presence of Deputy Education Officer, Datin Wan Zuraida Amiruddin, Acting School Principal, En Mohd Mursalin Ramli, Tech Dome Penang CEO, Mr William Khoo and Penang Math Platform General Manager, Mr Johnny Ong

Raising STEM Interests in SMK (L) Methodist (MBS)

The StepUp Initiative received a further boost with sponsorship of RM20,000 each by two sponsors for the schools in the Timur Laut district.

The StepUP Initiative is a collaboration between Penang STEM and the Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Timur Laut to seek corporate sponsorship from industry players to adopt schools and help fund hands-on STEM workshops and activities for lower secondary students to complement what they learn in schools. These are mainly aimed at sparking the interests of students in STEM-learning and to inspire more to opt for science (STEM) streams in form 4 and beyond.

At a special ceremony held at the Penang Math Platform in Bukit Glugor on July 08, Mr Lim Wei Khoe, Managing Director of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd handed over a sponsorship commemorative plaque to En Omar bin Abdul Rashid, Principal of Penang Free School whilst Mr Ng Kok Yu, Corporate Director of Globetronics Technology Sdn Bhd to Mrs Lim Geaik Hong, Principal of SMKJ Phor Tay. Present to witness the simple ceremony was Datin Wan Zuraida, Northeast District Deputy Learning Sector Officer, Tuan Abdul Said Hussain, Northeast District Deputy Planning Sector Officer, teachers and representatives from Tech Dome Penang, Penang Math Platform, Penang Skills Development Centre and Penang Digital Library who are participating centres under Penang STEM.

The General Manager of Penang STEM, Richard Chung took the opportunity to brief about a new STEM Learning From Home (SLFH) programme which will be launched as part of the StepUP Initiative from Aug – Nov, 2020 leading up to a STEM Grand Challenge which will be conducted during a STEM Showcase to be held in Dec 2020.

Instead of just online workshops which are currently being offered by many education players to students, the 4-month SLFH programme will include Monthly Challenges to assess the students knowledge and skills acquired from the various programmes conducted under 7 categories / subjects which will be offered for participation.

Scores will be accumulated over the 4 months to determine qualifiers for the STEM Grand Challenge which will be conducted in December just prior to the year-end school holidays.

Participation and merit certs (with co-curriculum points) will be offered to students whilst winners for each category will also receive prizes. A Challenge Trophy will be awarded to the best school based on the achievement of their participating students during the Grand Challenge.

Stay tuned for further updates soon!

Enquiries can be made via email to stepup.pstem@gmail.com.

StepUP Sponsorship for MBS by Dato’ Ooi Boon Chye

Dato’ Ooi (right) presented a sponsorship plaque to Dato’ Khoo Cheok Sin (left)

On 9 June 2020, Senior Vice President of Global operations at Broadcom, Dato Ooi Boon Chye handed a personal sponsorship of RM20,000 for Methodist Boy School (MBS) under the StepUP Initiative.

StepUP is a programme aimed at bringing interesting STEM-learning extra-curricular workshops and activities to schools in Penang to complement the teaching of Science and Mathematics in schools under the formal curriculum.

The programme aimed at sparking the interests of lower secondary students and inspiring them to pursue higher studies and future careers in related fields.

Under the StepUP Initiative, industry players such as MNCs, SMEs, local corporations and others adopt schools of their choice to help fund STEM programmes to be conducted by the 5 participating centres under Penang STEM, namely PSDC, TDP, CAT, PMP, and PDL

StepUP was jointly initiated by Penang STEM and the Penang Education Department through its North East District Office and was launched in September last year.

Dato’ Ooi also presented a sponsorship plaque to Dato’ Khoo Cheok Sin (Chairman of the MBS Board of Governors) which was witnessed by Mr. Richard Chung, General Manager of Penang STEM, Northeast District Deputy Education Officer Mr. Abdul Said, School Principal, Mr Lau Chong Beng and other school teachers.

In his short address, Dato’ Ooi said that he was happy to help out the school since it was his alma mater and it was aimed at encouraging students to excel in Mathematics and Science. “Nowadays, parents are too worried about their kids being under pressure for studying Mathematics which I personally think it is not true. We need more engineers in my company and so does the country.”

He also mentioned in his speech that he hopes to be able to carry on supporting the school. He hopes that the StepUP initiative could give the encouragement to the children to have more interest in Science and Mathematics.

Dato’ Ooi is currently responsible for managing Broadcom’s worldwide manufacturing, outsourcing, procurement, order management, planning and logistic, and Quality Organizations. He was also the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations from 2003 until 2008.

Prior to Xilinx, Boon Chye Ooi had a long and successful career at Intel Corporation and the held the position of Vice President of Intel’s Corporate Technology Group and Vice President of Intel’s Systems manufacturing group. In that role he led Intel’s Systems worldwide plant operations

The StepUp Initiative is a programme aimed at sparking the interests of lower secondary students in STEM-learning and inspiring them to pursue higher studies and future careers in related fields.

Under the StepUp Initiative, industry players adopt schools of their choice to fun STEM programmes to be conducted.

Mr Lau Chong Beng, School Principal of MBS delivered aspeech to the audience.

Dato Ooi’ is giving his speech regarding StepUP Sponsorship at Methodist Boys School.

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Official Launching of StepUP INITIATIVE (13 September 2019)

We are delighted to have both the Chief Minister, YAB Tuan Chow Kon Yeow & Deputy Chief Minister II , YB Prof Dr P Ramasamy for the launch of our Penang STEM StepUP Initiative, a programme to nurture future STEM talents by sparking the interests of lower secondary students towards STEM-learning and to inspire them to opt for science stream in upper secondary & beyond. Thank you also to our Pioneer Sponsors: Inari Amertron, Flextronics, Greatech Integration, Mi Technovation, Motorola Solutions, Pentamaster & VAT Manufacturing for stepping up to support this Initiative.