SOPB senior manager Apong Siri (second right) hands over certificates, cash and stationery sets to representations of SMK Luar Bandar Miri

MIRI: Some 176 stu­dents from 32 schools in the state have bene­fit­ted from the Sarawak Oil Palms Ber­had (SOPB) under its Young Achiev­ers Award (YAA) and Stu­dent Adop­tion Pro­gramme (SAP) 2020/2021.

Recently, SOPB man­age­ment and its pub­lic rela­tions per­son­nel vis­ited 32 par­ti­cip­at­ing schools in regions such as Lam­bir, Niah Suai, Marudi, Sebauh, Tatau, Sun­gai Asap and Baling­ian to con­duct simple han­dover awards cere­mon­ies which adhere to the Covid-19 SOPs.

Under the YAA pro­gramme, SOPB awar­ded cash and cer­ti­fic­ates to 116 stu­dents who excelled in the 2020 pub­lic exam­in­a­tions, Sijil Pela­jaran Malay­sia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Perseko­la­han Malay­sia (STPM). UPSR and PT3 were removed from the pro­gramme after the abol­ish­ment of the two exam­in­a­tions by Edu­ca­tion Min­istry.

Mean­while, under the SAP pro­gramme, SOPB gran­ted cash incent­ive and sta­tion­ery packs to 60 needy stu­dents from low income fam­il­ies.

SAP is part of SOPB’s cor­por­ate social respons­ib­il­ity (CSR) ini­ti­at­ives to provide fin­an­cial sup­port for edu­ca­tional needs to under­priv­ileged chil­dren from primary and sec­ond­ary schools within the vicin­ity of the Group’s oper­a­tions.

“Even though schools have been closed due to the Covid-19 pan­demic, SOPB through its CSR ini­ti­at­ive will con­tinue its focus on motiv­at­ing, encour­aging and pro­mot­ing edu­ca­tion among the young gen­er­a­tion in the rural areas.

“SOPB has made a con­cer­ted effort espe­cially in lend­ing a help­ing hand to the needy chil­dren and motiv­ated them to become high achiev­ing stu­dents and set­ting them on a path to appre­ci­ate con­tinu­ous learn­ing,” it said in a press state­ment today.

In 2020, SOPB awar­ded 196 stu­dents from 34 schools under the two CSR pro­grammes.

Source: Borneo Post, 09 November 2021, Home, Page 9; https://www.pressreader.com/malaysia/the-borneo-post/20211109/281809992131463