I’d first heard of Arus Academy in 2015 when they won the Star Golden Hearts award, an honour for Malaysians who have performed acts of kindness. While the winners of the award comprised of exceptionally selfless individuals, including a group of teenagers who delivered a baby in a mall, Arus stood out to me because of their innovative spirit.
I was mainly intrigued by the relevance of their curriculum with the requirements of the job market. It was almost a perfect mapping of supply and demand within the human capital development sector. And it was something that I had never heard of yet, at least in our country. The initiative fits the very definition of social innovation, and I knew I needed to speak to these guys.
Teach for Malaysia roots
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| Image: SITEC.com.my |
Arus was founded by four Teach for Malaysia (TFM) alumni who’d spent two years teaching in public schools under the programme. Alina Amir and Felicia Yoon are both actuarial science graduates from the University of Illinois and the London School of Economics respectively. Daniel Russel studied mechanical engineering at Multimedia University before joining TFM, and David Chak was a psychology major at McGill University.
The precursor to Arus was an Afterschool Coding Enterprise (ACE) project which David had initiated when he and Alina were teaching at SMK Taman Sejahtera in Bukit Mertajam, Penang -- a school in the bottom 5% percentile in the nation. They saw ACE as a solution to address the rife truancy situation at the school, while equipping students with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) based problem solving and leadership skills that are essential for their future.
ACE provided the foundation for the founders to expand and build upon in developing Arus. Plus the movement had generated an overwhelming following to the point that they were chased out of the school’s Kemahiran Hidup (life skills) workshop for staying in until late night. A staggering transformation for a school whose disciplinary demerit points were primarily attributed by absenteeism.
Innovation in the Pearl of the Orient
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| Image: ArusAcademy.org.my |
With unwavering resolve, they secured a shoplot in the sprawling industrial town of Bukit Mertajam and opened their doors to students of all backgrounds; true to the spirit of providing learning opportunities for all. The curriculum comprised of design thinking, project management, computer programming, and public speaking. Areas that tend to be overlooked by the education system.
In delivering their curriculum, Arus adopts an approach called ‘maker education’, a term that was first coined by the co-founder of O’Reilly Media, Dale Dougherty. (He also came up with ‘Web 2.0’.) Maker education drives experiential learning through problem solving and collaboration. And through Arus’ interdisciplinary modules, students are challenged both intellectually and emotionally in developing themselves as well-rounded individuals.
Over the course of six months, students are trained to understand the principles of programming, apply the theories that they learn in solving problems, and build self-confidence by emulating presentations that are modelled after TED talks. Form 1 – 4 students who attend the programme are exposed to learning opportunities that are currently only accessible in developed countries.
The Elon Musk(s) of Penang
I had the opportunity to speak to two Arus students at the recent Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) #MydigitalMaker Fair in Kuala Lumpur. Navesh and Maashyindran are both in Form 2. They’ve been in Bukit Mertajam all their lives, but their foresight and vision goes far beyond the small island town. In primary school, together with their friend Nirosha, they won first prize at the National Science Fair for Young Children with their invention, the ‘Balloon-powered Car’.
The boys exuded confidence as they presented to me their invention, the Wooden Light Box, a lab apparatus that facilitates easier and faster temperature conditioning. The trigger for their invention was an arduous primary school science experiment that could take up to four hours to complete. With their invention, they demonstrated how the same process could be completed in just eight minutes.
When they are not working on new creations, ‘Nav’ and ‘Maash’ are just like any other 14 year olds. Nav supports Manchester United and plays midfield for his school football team while Maash, the taller of the two, plays defence and looks up to Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona. They each dream of becoming a petroleum engineer and software engineer respectively.
The team’s current project is a brick-making process that could save the environment. There’s no stopping these boys.
Nurturing the next generation of makers
At the same event, I also spoke to Alina, one of the co-founders who left her consulting job to pursue teaching with TFM before launching Arus. She walked me through their booth which includes a wall display that chronicles the evolution of education over the course of history. Towards the end of the installation is a section on High Tech High (HTH), an organisation that Arus intend to model themselves after.
Based in San Diego, HTH is a network of tuition-free and textbook-free charter schools that are built upon four design principles: equity, personalisation, authentic work, and collaborative design. Instead of homework assignments, students work on projects that aim to solve real-world problems. A school with no homework... what’s not to love!
After only three years in operation, Arus are already spreading their wings with the recent opening of the Arus Maker Studio in Shah Alam. Housed within the Selangor Digital Creative Centre, Maker Studio collaborate with schools in offering maker education extracurricular activities. They also open membership to the public who are keen on utilising their 3D printing and laser-cutting facilities.
I dropped by their studio recently and the team were busy at work, fresh from their packed weekend at the KL Convention Centre. I was showed around by Ali, a coordinator who was previously in the automotive industry. We were later joined by his colleagues Azrina and Huda, who had studied dietetics and architecture respectively before joining TFM and now, Arus. It’s great to see individuals of diverse educational backgrounds going into the teaching.
In addition to Maker Studio, Arus is also currently working with MDEC and the Ministry of Education in developing the computer science curriculum that will be incorporated into our school syllabus in the near future. As the debate over the direction of the national education system rages on, it is comforting to know that these passionate changemakers are leaving their mark in the process.
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| Image: Facebook.com/ArusMalaysia |
Learn more: http://www.arusacademy.org.my
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