Category Archives: Activities
Environmental education in schools 2022
Besides conducting environmental programmes as field events , for the year 2022, Reach conducted 5 environmental education programmes in schools too. These programmes consisted of talks on environmental protection (with emphasis on protecting the rivers and forests) and 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) followed by Art and Craft creative work from recyclable materials. Prizes and souvenirs would be given to encourage the school children. There would be Q and A sessions too.
Our school team would usually be headed by Mr Selvarajoo or occasionally Mdm Jay Gomathi and would be assisted by fellow Reach members Datin Aseema, Puan Hazlina, Miss Saraswathi or Intern from UPM En Syakir. Occasionally our president Mr Dilip and volunteer Mr Kavvin would join in.
Listed below are the programmes done.
Date School No of Pax Teacher in charge Reach Chief facilitator
24th August 22 SJKT Ringlet 25 Cikgu Anand Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
21st and 28th Sept22 SK Convent 150 Cikgu Supiah Mdm Jay Gomathi (speaker)
5th October 22 SMSAS 85 Cikgu Mangaikalarasi Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
11th October 22 SJKT Tanah Rata 20 Cikgu Nagalesh Mr Selvarajoo (speaker)
30th November 22 SK Brinchang 56 Encik Syakir (speaker)
Reach would like to thank the schools for their participation and also our Reach team for their dedication and hard work. These programmes would not be possible without them.
Restorasi Hutan Mossy yang terosot di Gunung Brinchang Cameron Highlands
Program Penanaman pokok ini dilaksanakan dengan peruntukan dari My ICE dibawah ROS Registrar of Societies Malaysia. Peruntukan sebanyak RM10,000 diterima pada bulan April 2022 dan program ini bermula dari bulan Mei 2022 hingga bulan Ogos 2022. Tapak penanaman pokok adalah di Pusat Biodiversiti REACH di Gunung Brinchang yang berada 1600 hingga 1800 m dari paras laut.
Seramai 327 orang murid dan guru dari 9 buah sekolah Cameron Highlands mengambil bahagian . Jumlah anak pokok/okid yang ditanam adalah 330 batang dan meliputi pokok species tempatan saperti Geruk, Kelat,Ara, Medang Serai, Medang Payung, Eugenia, Rhododendron dan okid liar saperti Bulbophyllum, Eria, Cologyne, Flickingeria, Trichostasia, Phaius dan lain lain.
Setiap program bermula pada 9 pagi apabila murid murid tiba di tapak dengan pengangkutan kenderaan 4 wheel . Mereka akan diberi taklimat/arahan daripada pembimbing dan kepentingan hutan tanah tinggi ditekankan. Ini diikuti oleh aktiviti penanaman pokok dan pada 12 tengah hari murid murid dibawa balik ke pusat pengumpulan selepas minuman ringan.
Pehak REACH ingin mengucap beribuan terima kasih kepada ROS kerana memberi dana dan galakan; pejabat pendidikan, sekolah sekolah, cikgu-cikgu, persatuan ibu bapa yang memberi sokongan dan menaja makanan dan minuman ringan; dan sukarelawan kami, Encik Selvarajoo, Encik Kaliyannan , Encik Ramachandran, Encik Vijendran, Encik Kumaresan yang memberi bimbingan kepada anak murid.
Beerikut adalah senarai sekolah yang mengambil bahagian
25hb Mei 2022-Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil SJKT Ringlet-39 peserta menanam 30 pokok
Kemaman Bitumen Company Sdn Bhd to the rescue yet again
Since 2001 when our society was first formed we have always been seeking funding for our various projects. Some years we strike lucky and have enough funds to conduct various projects including building infrastructure while some years we were ‘downright paupers’ with just enough to cover the operating and maintenance costs.
At the time when our environmental programmes with local schools were becoming a permanent fixture, we watched with apprehension as our funds gradually deplete. It was during this anxious period in 2018, that Kemaman Bitumen Company came to our aid and gave a grant of RM 10000 for our reforestation programmes.
Kemaman Bitumen has continued to believe and support us every year since then. Together with funding from ROS, these funds have helped us tide over the pandemic period relatively unscathed.
Some of the activities done with the latest Kemaman Bitumen Grant include
1. Reforestation on the 26th September 2021
Mr Sanjay, the CEO of Kemaman Bitumen and friends together with Reach members planted 20 trees at our biodiversity site in Gunung Brinchang.
2.Reforestation on the 19th February 2022 with CHERISH-Home for Children with special needs in Cameron Highlands
22 persons which included Cherish students, parents and teachers together with Reach members and volunteers participated. 25 saplings and orchids were planted.
3.Reforestation on the 18th May 2022 with Tadika Winlon, Tanah Rata
37 persons which included students, teachers , parents and volunteers participated. Event was facilitated by the President, V. President , Mr Kaliyannan, Mr Vijendran and Mr Kumaresan.
We the Reach committee would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Kemaman Bitumen for supporting us these past few years.
Registrar of Societies ROS lends a helping hand
Back in 2019, just a couple of months before the emergence of Covid-19, ROS approached us on the possibility of doing an environmental activity with REACH under their ROS-Care programme. Their reconnaissance team met up with our late president Mr Ramakrishnan and a site was eventually readied for them up at our biodiversity center in Gunung Brinchang.
Then in early 2020 the pandemic came and “All hell broke loose”. Our country was not spared and under the various lockdowns , outdoor activities came to a complete halt. As the ferocity of the Covid 19 pandemic diminished so did the movement control order. Countrywide lockdowns were eased and gradually some form of normalcy returned.
We began to do more work at our research center but activities with schools were still non-existent. It was only in late 2021 that our reforestation programme restarted with the assistance of ROS.
On the 26th of October 2021, the ROS team of 35 participants headed by Tuan Haji Mohd Nawardi Bin Saad, The Director General of the Registrar of Societies Malaysia came to our centre and planted trees.
They also did more than that. They advised us to apply for their MyICE grant which provides assistance to community based societies such as ours.
Our current president Mr Dilip Martin facilitated the event. He briefed ROS on our society’s objectives, achievements and unending struggles given the magnitude of the environmental problems here. The following year, which is this year 2022, we did as ROS advised. We applied for the MyICE grant and are pleased to inform that we were successful in obtaining the grant.
We the committee of REACH cannot thank the Registrar of Societies enough for lending us a helping hand just when we needed it most.
The Edge Environmental Education for Students at the Mossy Forests of Cameron Highlands 2018/2019 concludes
by Cheam May Choo
We are pleased to report that this project which was funded by a grant from the Edge Kuala Lumpur Rat Race 2018 was successfully carried out from April 2019 to October 2019.
The Edge Education Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Edge Media Group. The foundation’s mission is to foster, develop and promote education of all kinds. Through the Edge KL Rat Race (which is held annually since 2000) funds are raised from corporate Malaysia and given to the various registered charities and NGOs. In 2018 the event was held at Padang Merbok, KL on the 31st of July . Reach received a grant of RM63,530/= for environmental education at our mossy forests. Besides educating students on the biodiversity and importance of our highland forests, lessons on climate change were also conducted.
The objectives of this programme were met.
- A total of 553 students and 63 teachers from 22 primary schools in Cameron Highlands participated. Schools were from both the remote and urban areas. The ages of the students ranged from 8 years to 12 years.
- Environmental education with emphasis on forest conservation and introduction to climate change were imparted.
- A total of 659 endemic trees/orchids were planted. The tree species were kelat, medang serai, medang kemangi, geruk and others. Orchid species included terrestrial orchids such as calanthe and cymbidium while the epiphytic orchids were from bulbophyllum, dendrobium, eria, liparis, oberonia species and others.
- As an introduction to climate change, a hands-on approach was used. Students were given hand-held weather measuring instruments such as anemometer, thermometer and hygrometer and tasked to make comparisons between shaded areas under the trees and exposed areas devoid of forest cover and the findings discussed.
- Weather data continued to be sent to the local meteorological department monthly, and they included air quality data such as NO nitrogen oxide, NO2 nitrogen dioxide, SO2 sulphur dioxide and NH3 Ammonia. Implementation of the programme
- After obtaining approval from the local education department, schools were notified. Dates for the field trips would be set. For the first time since we commenced reforestation activities in Gunung Brinchang, 4 schools from the interior parts of Cameron Highlands joined in too.
- On the day of the field trips, there would be a short briefing at the pick-up point before students are sent by 4-wheel drive vehicles to our Biodiversity site located midway up Gunung Brinchang at an elevation of 1800 metres above sea level. (This was a former illegally cleared site which is now being rehabilitated.)
- Once at the site students would be briefed on forest conservation and climate change. Trees and orchids were then planted and weather monitoring activities carried out.
- Towards the end of the programme students would be given questionnaires to fill in to gauge the efficacy of the programme.
- The programmes would end by 12.30pm.
- A total of 22 field trips were conducted and all the participants came down safely.
The Edge Environmental Program with Reach resumes
by cheam may choo
Updated 14th October 2019
On the morning of the 24th September 2019, I watched with a huge sigh of relief, the North-Easterly winds returning with a vengence. (Just as the meteorological department said it would) The clouds overhead were rushing across the skies,from the peaks of Gunung Berembun to the peaks of Gunung Jasar, chasing away the month long haze which had enveloped the mountains and valleys like mist turning acrid.
The reforestation activities were going on in full swing and the last thing we need is bad air. We had completed the programmes for a few schools but had to postpone one due to heavy rains and another due to haze.
The reforestation activities are
Date: 17th September 2019. SK Pos Terisu. 13 students and 3 teachers-completed
Date: 18th September 2019. SJKT Ladang Sg. Palas. 10 students and 3 teachers-completed. School gave a certificate of appreciation and a souvenir.
Date: 19th September 2019. SJKT Kuala Terla. 30 pax-postponed to the 2nd of October due to haze
Date: 20th September 2019. SJKC Tanah Rata 24 students and 2 teachers-partially done, remaining programme postponed due to rains.
Date: 24th September 2019. SJKC Kuala Terla. 27 students and 3 teachers. This school gave us a certificate of appreciation too and a box of local vegetables, as fresh as one can get!. SJKC Kuala Terla is a cluster school of excellence.
Date: 25th September 2019. SJKC Trinkap . 33 students and 3 teachers. Completed.
Date: 26th September 2019. SJKC Cameron. 23 students and 2 teachers. Completed
Date: 27th September 2019. SJKC Kg Raja . 35 students and 4 teachers. Completed.
Date: 30th September 2019. SJKC Bertam Valley. 30 students and 3 teachers. Completed. This is also a cluster school of excellence.
Date: 2nd October 2019-SJKT Kuala Terla. 27 students and 3 teachers.Completed
Date: 3rd October 2019-SK Convent. 22 students and 2 teachers. Completed. A cluster school of excellence
Date: 4th October 2019. SJKC Brinchang . 30 students and 3 teachers.Completed
Date : 7th October 2019. SK Lemoi. 12 students and 2 teachers.Completed
Date: 8th October 2019. SJKT Blue Valley. 31 students and 8 teachers.Completed
Date: 9th October 2019. SJKC Tanah Rata. 24 students and 2 teachers. Completed
Date 10th October 2019.SK Ringlet.27 students and 3 teachers. Completed
Date 11th October 2019 SK Brinchang.30 students and 3 teachers.Completed
With the beautiful weather here, we hope the remaining primary schools will join as most students who participated found it fun and interesting. Pictures will be uploaded from time to time.
We are extremely grateful to the Edge Education Fund for making this possible.