PAPAN: After waiting for nearly a year, 60 students of SJKC Papan can now enjoy the facilities at its newly-opened Education Resource Centre which houses a toy and book library, computer room, canteen and a classroom.

The centre was made possible with the help of the Education Ministry, Living Hope, Ease Cox International (M) Sdn Bhd, ECM Libra Foundation, and Lee Foundation which jointly contributed a total of RM280,000 to the school’s building funds last May. Construction work to build the Education Resource Centre at the school started at the end of May last year.

The Chinese school, founded by tin miners in 1925, was already running in a state of dilapidation and lacked modern facilities. The school library, which was set up in 2007, was also in a sorry state.

The dream of having a new education resource centre came true for the school’s board of governors as well as the pupils when the Living Hope chairman Dr Peggy Wong visited the school in April last year.

Saddened by the state of the school, Wong decided to raise funds for the reconstruction of the original Block A, and turn it into an education resource centre.

She said the pupils here have not chosen to move to a bigger school in another town, and therefore they deserve modern facilities.

“The children are our future, and we must help these children. Many of them come from families earning less than RM1,000 a month,” she said.

“To date, we have set up 96 toy and book libraries and four education resource centres, including the Sungai Siput Grace Centre, Kampung Tras Orang Asli Community Centre, Miri Education Resource Centre. The SJKC Papan Education Resource Centre is our latest.”

She added that for a start, Living Hope donated RM10,000 worth of books and reading materials to the resource centre.

SJKC Papan headmaster Wong Koang Ming, meanwhile, said the school was still short of funds to build a new building.

“Since 2005, we had renovated the staff room and office, and changed the roof, tables and chairs for six classrooms but we need to equip the school library with more books and upgrade the present batch of computers,” said Koang Ming.

Living Hope is a non-profit organisation set up in 2007.

It has touched the lives of 39,350 children through charitable projects like One Egg-One Child Feeding Programme, and Educate a Child Programme.

From : New Straits Times
By Diana Yeoh