In conjunction with the recent Deepavali celebrations, Pusat Perkhidmatan Setempat Nelayan (PPSN) working with the South West District Education Office (PPD) presented festive hampers to 27 children from families in the Penang South Islands (PSI) area.
Among them were nine pupils from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Batu, 10 from Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Maung, and eight from Sekolah Kebangsaan Permatang Damar Laut.
Penang Infrastructure Corporation (PIC) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Farizan Darus said it was PPSN’s tradition to offer festive aid to families in need during major religious or cultural celebrations and foster closer intercultural ties among the local multiracial community.
“We hope this small contribution will bring the children and their families some cheer during this festive season. We also wish them luck in their studies, and may the Festival of Lights brings them success,” he said.
PIC oversees the operations of PPSN, which was set up by the Penang State Government in 2016 as the one-stop centre for the local community and fishermen to seek information on the PSI project. PPSN has three offices in Permatang Damar Laut, Sungai Batu and Gertak Sanggul.
Farizan said the state government’s PSI project would benefit the younger generation in the future by providing thousands of job opportunities, adding that education support programmes under the project’s Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) were being implemented for fishermen’s children and others from humble backgrounds.
“Under the SIMP, the state is offering after-school learning recovery classes for Primary 1 to 3 children, who need to brush up their reading and writing skills; and subsidising tuition fees for those in Primary 1 to Form 5 under the Program Jaya Didik. We are working with the district education office and local tuition centres on the two respective programmes.
“For those sitting for their SPM next year, we are working with USAINS Holdings at Universiti Sains Malaysia to provide them with a hybrid education programme to prepare them for the exam.
“We hope with the extra classes and programmes, they will be able to study better and feel more motivated to do well in school. With good grades, they will have better job marketability in the future,” he said.