Shah Alam, 12 December 2023 – Art is a medium of expression and children are often honest in expressing their thoughts. The COVID-19 Pandemic that engulfed Malaysia in 2020 to 2021 undoubtedly affected children. With this realization, an art workshop entitled “Experience During Pandemic”, under the initiative of Service Learning Malaysia – University for Society (SULAM), was successfully organized by the College of Computing, Informatics, and Mathematics (KPPIM), Universiti Teknologi MARA Kampus Puncak Perdana in collaboration with Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Jawa, Shah Alam.
Over 70 pupils from Year 3 of SK Padang Jawa participated in the workshop facilitated by 26 undergraduates of the Children’s Librarianship (IML606) subject course.
Weeks before the big day, a comprehensive groundwork was laid by engaging with the stakeholders from the school. These insightful interactions have helped inform the painting workshop’s content and structure, which involves using different art materials, and the ability for the pupils to express their talent through art making activities. Divided into 5 groups, each team was assigned to conduct activities which included painting pouch bags, batik, tote bags and banners as well as building miniatures.
The art workshop is intended for the pupils to share and discuss their creations which would in turn foster a sense of community and creativity among the children. The educational yet fun activity allows the children to reflect and assess their acceptance of the COVID-19 challenging times considering it transpired during their early foundation years of 6 years old.
According to Puan Zuhiedaya Yahya, Senior Assistant (Afternoon Session) of SK Padang Jawa, the art workshop is able to uncover the talents of the school’s students as well as foster interest in art which in turn helps shape creative students. The student said that they were having so much fun participating in the activities and are thrilled to have more similar activities in the near future.
KPPIM SULAM 2023/2024 programme is one of the initiatives aimed at empowering and serving the community through volunteer activities. Students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge practically and discover how the knowledge they have acquired can also improve the living standards of the local community. The activities also support the aspirations of Fourth and Eleventh Sustainable Development Goals, which are Quality Education and Sustainable Cities and Communities. It is also in line with the visions of Malaysia Madani.