PETALING JAYA, 16 July 2022 – 40 Students from SMK (L) Methodist Sentul were excited to experience actual field work through physical, biological and chemical river water experiments via the Salcon Smart Water Programme (SSWP) at Sungai Penchala today.
The award—winning programme which is conducted by Salcon Berhad (Salcon) in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and non-governmental organisation, Water Watch Penang (WWP), advocates hands-on science learning with the aim to allowed students to apply various scientific theories that they learned back at school in interactive water experiments.
Amongst the activities carried out were physical water testing, which is the process of monitoring the water flow rate, clarity, color and smell. Students and teachers were then guided on monitoring the alkaline and acidic levels within the river water and also had the chance to identify different kinds of organisms living in the river which is an indicator of the river’s health level. The findings of today’s water test were recorded in a database by Water Watch Penang (WWP) as standard water monitoring process.
“We are glad to see our students actively participating and responding enthusiastically throughout the programme. The Salcon Smart Water programme is an excellent avenue for our students to enjoy the outdoors rather than being just cooped up in the classroom especially after being constrained for past 2 years.,” said Ms Adelyn Saw, teachers of SMK (L) Methodist Sentul.
Salcon Berhad General Manager – Corporate, Ms Chern Meng Gaik said “The programme aims to promote awareness on the importance of good quality water supplies in sustaining a community and its development. Apart from that, over the years of organizing the programme, we have observed that hands-on learning is more impactful to the students and we hope that they will in turn, pass through the message to their friends and family members through positive changes and smart water use”.
As of today, the SSWP has benefitted more than 3000 children in Klang valley and Kuala Lumpur since its inception. In each of our programme, we will measures the effectiveness of the programme through a pre and post water knowledge evaluation. The evaluation result has shown that the students’ understanding on water knowledge has increased significantly after conducting the activities by themselves.