SOLS impact on Education in Malaysia

Education

At SOLS, we take pride in serving, educating and empowering today’s society as much as we can (24/7). We believe that education is the gateway to opportunity and that everyone deserves an equal chance at learning. Now we understand that ‘education’ is an extremely broad term and is linked to hundreds of definitions and individual interpretations about what it is and how it should be used, however, here is how we incorporate education into our organisation and the way we utilise the term...

Education is ‘Equality’

We open our community centre doors to students of every background and educational ability. Why? Well, we believe that education should resonate with equality, that nobody should be held back from learning. Whether you’re 74 and wanting to improve your English skills or 14 years old and wanting to discover your creative attributes, our free lessons are there to encourage local communities to participate. SOLS are determined to make education free and accessible for all by strategically placing community centres in areas that are in need of a positive space for students to learn. Ever since we created these centres, we are proud to admit that we have trained over 46,000 students and successfully run over 1000 innovative community programmes. Yet we won’t stop there! We are driven and determined and will continue to provide free education to as many students as we can to try and beat the cycle of poverty. Sometimes, we forget how powerful the force of poverty can actually be on a person’s mindset. Poverty can paralyse the mind and trigger feelings of inferiority, marginality and emotions of hopelessness; such feelings as these may even take a lifetime to change. Therefore, we want to dive straight into the root of these issues before they grow into self-fulfilling prophecies. We are there to teach our students that these labels do not define them and that even the most influential people in the world have faced the cycle of poverty first-hand; we do not have to live by our labels.

Education is ‘Environment’

Preserving the environment and its natural resources is often a hot topic of conversation in society. Without educating people about how to preserve what we have, how will anyone ever know what to do or how to make a daily impact? After all, it is the environment which creates our text books, the environment that keeps us getting to work every day; it is the environment which keeps us all functioning. Within our current generation, we may be getting by but what about the future generations to come? It is hard to imagine how detrimental our destruction may be whilst focused on other things, however, the environment will soon be warning us of its discontent through the form of catastrophic weather changes and the everlasting effect of greenhouse gases. This is why at SOLS 24/7 we provide students with ways of learning about these effects and how to prevent them through our range of programmes. For instance, our Academy of Innovation equips underprivileged Malaysians with free education on technical skills and the potential of solar power. We actually provide students a safe and engaging environment to build, design and learn all about solar panels and their pioneering source of power. The project enables youth to gain a solid foundation so that they can grow professionally and spread their knowledge to other communities, including their own. By channelling this domino effect of education, a lasting change may be made to the environment’s welfare and as stated by the great philosopher Sir Frances Bacon; ‘knowledge is power’.

Education is ‘Empowerment’

When you’re learning, you’re constantly expanding your mind and outlook on life. At SOLS 24/7 we want students to feel empowered by education and to gain confidence from our curriculum. Self-worth is essential, once you feel confident in yourself it begins to radiate in all aspects of your professional and personal life. We aim to promote a growth mindset in all those who learn with us, to teach others that anything is possible once you have glued together your plan of action. Motivation is sometimes lacking in impoverished communities around Malaysia and that’s why our team desires to make a difference and boost levels of motivation so that it is transformed into motion. Many of the youth today lack confidence in their futures; therefore we set up SOLS Smart which is there to promote educational programs which are available to students. SOLS Smart stands by the belief that education is a MUST for a promising and secure future, plus a stable life. We want to keep education simple and provide high quality programs for individuals of any background and that’s why we have linked up with Cambridge English and Google for Education. Both these initiatives recognise the way that students are struggling with motivation to learn and are determined to combat that by positively transforming teaching perceptions. As an example, Google for Education takes students straight into the 21st century by allowing learners to use technology as a way of keeping their skills relevant and transferable to modern day workplaces. By upgrading student’s knowledge, their confidence in themselves is sure to increase as they are maintaining control of their computer literacy awareness. The same can be said for Cambridge English, by up keeping student’s knowledge of the English Language, the more confident they will be whilst applying for roles and putting their hard-working practice to use. With these 3 important factors of empowerment, environment and equality, SOLS strives towards achieving an education for all. We will continue to educate and empower our generations as we understand the fulfilling impact it can have on Malaysia. If we do not try to encourage students now, then the circle will continue to repeat itself and we will have generation after generation of unmotivated youth. Our organisation will push forward for 24/7 educational equality so that no one is left out and so no one feels as if their upbringing defines their potential, especially as the Science Of Life Studies is crucial for withholding a stable life.