Community Programme With International Students Help Promote Malaysian Culture

Langkawi, 10 March – In their efforts to cultivate social responsibility among students, the Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) Centre for International Languages (CIL) hosted a community programme in Kampung Selat Bagan Nyior, Dayang Bunting.

The Homestay and Community Service Programme that took place from 6 to 9 March was joined by 22 UniMAP mobility students from Walailak University, Thailand and four UniMAP international students from Yemen, Kenya and Palestine who were led by lecturer Syamril Aklmar Chek Kassim of CIL.

Director of the Centre for International Languages Prof Dr Harshita Aini Haroon said that the students were divided up between 11 foster families in the village to strengthen community ties between the students and the villagers.

She said that among the activities that were held were cleaning and planting of decorative plants at mosque grounds and cleaning of the beach which were also joined by the villagers and the Rukun Tetangga.

“Besides the community cleaning, students of Sekolah Kebangsaan Selat Bagan Nyior were also exposed to Malay language and culture activities along with academic tutoring, while their school was made a CIL foster school,” she said in a statement recently.

According to Harshita, all international students were able to enjoy seafood a speciality for the village community, fishing and playing rubber band rope skipping with the village children.

“These activities are beneficial especially to the international students because it would help them acclimatise to the conditions and culture of our society.

“Besides that, it will indirectly help to promote the culture among the international students and thus indirectly boosting our tourism industry,” she said.

During the activities, UniMAP donated cash, sundry goods and stationery to the villagers.

The programme is expected to be held annually to expose the international students to the community activities of the country.