Maxis’ flagship community programme eKelas impacts over 9,000 rural students

• Delivered at 72 MCMC-owned internet centres across 10 states
• Maxis first to bring digital learning through a live tutorial concept

Maxis eKelas is on a strong growth momentum, with the flagship community programme now being delivered at 72 Pusat Internet (internet centres) under Maxis’ care across 10 states, with over 9,000 students connecting through the programme.

eKelas, which is delivered through Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)-owned Pusat Internet under Maxis care, focuses on Science, Mathematics and English.

Maxis’ flagship community programme aims to unlock the potential and improve the academic performance of students in rural communities. It is an after-school digital learning initiative for students from Primary 6 to Form 5, which brings learning enrichment in a fun and vibrant way and provides access to quality education content, in line with the Malaysian School Syllabus. Students are exposed to experiential learning with competitions and group projects, as well as motivational sessions by Maxis’ own young and brightest talents.

The programme is also now recognised by the Ministry of Education as an initiative under its Highly Immersive Programme, where students are eligible to collect co-curricular marks from their participation in eKelas.

“From a macro perspective, it is important for us, as a nation to accelerate digital adoption. One vital aspect of Malaysia’s digital future is building the right talent to future proof the skills and jobs, to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Our digital future will be in the hands of our next generation. According to the Department of Statistics, children under the age of 18 currently make up 29% or 9.4 million of Malaysia’s population of 32.4 million. Some of the 9.4 million are here today.

“The eKelas live tutorial is unique, and it is great to see the portal bring students from different states into a single platform to discuss their studies and projects together,” said Al-Ishsal Ishak, MCMC Chairman.  

“We have been championing education through various programmes, and we are very pleased to see our latest initiative, eKelas, showing great momentum since we started the programme four years ago. As the first digital learning programme to be delivered through the Pusat Internet, eKelas is unlike any other being offered, with cloud-based learning content and activity-based learning incorporated into the programme. Our eKelas is the cornerstone of our digital ambitions in education, and we want to continue to bring the best digital content to even more students. The potential and possibilities are immense, and we are excited about this future,” said Gokhan Ogut, Maxis’ CEO-designate.

Today, 25 eKelas students were awarded for their academic achievements at the second installation of the Anugerah Gemilang (excellence awards) eKelas ceremony. Four students were presented with a cash contribution of US$294 (RM1,200) and a school starter pack each, while 21 received US$197 (RM600) and a school starter pack each. The cash allowance will be deposited into the students’ National Education Savings Scheme (Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional) accounts.

At the ceremony held at Menara Maxis yesterday, Al-Ishsal presented the awards to the students, accompanied by Raja Arshad Raja Tun Uda, Maxis chairman, and Gokhan.

Anugerah Gemilang is a student grant scheme launched in August 2017 under Maxis eKelas. Its objective is to motivate students to achieve their academic goals and unlock their potential. To qualify for the award, students must achieve a minimum of one grade improvement in two or all three subjects taught in the eKelas programme. Eligible students can apply online and submit their final school exam results for the previous and current year, which are then evaluated by Maxis. The first application for the student grant was opened to students in November 2017, with the first award ceremony held in March 2018.