English Teacher
SK Long Sebangang, Sarawak
Outside of the classroom, he pioneered the Filpen Club, which gave students space to express themselves through filmmaking. Through this club, they have produced and sold their own short films with their film, “Teether” being accepted to the Horror Unleashed Film Festival in Portugal.
English Teacher SMK Long Ghafar 2, Kelantan
Commonly known as Sir Asai, Shahrul is a teacher who actively employs the power of social media to foster interest in his students to learn English. Prior to his rise to fame, Shahrul has been an exemplary English teacher as demonstrated by his school’s consistent improvement in SPM English over the past five years. He is also a frequent speaker in supporting students on how to score in the examination and in supporting teachers on creating educational content on social media. Boasting 1.2 million followers on TikTok, Shahrul has truly brought education front and centre to the eyes of the public.
Islamic Studies Teacher
SK Bandar, Johor
Jumisara is a devoted Islamic Studies teacher who does her best in ensuring her students can read and write Jawi fluently in order to khatam (recite) the Al-Quran. To that end, she has created an innovation called HIJAAQ, which addresses common issues in reading Jawi that she discovers in her students, such as connected and disconnected characters along with matching Roman alphabets to Jawi. Outside of the classroom, she started the Kumpulan Ibu Sayang Sekolah (KISS) in 2018, which not only supports parents and guardians to help their children in education but also to advocate for self-care and create further opportunities for them to develop extra income sources.
Physical Education Teacher, SK Mahmud, Pahang
Kathiresan is an innovative practitioner who has developed multiple strategies to better teach his students. For example, he created a teaching aid called “Tapak Kaki Kathi” from recycled materials to support his students in their footwork for netball. As a result, eight of his students were able to advance to state-level competitions. Kathiresan also actively coaches fellow teachers on how they can create their own contextualised innovations to be used in their classrooms.
Music Teacher SK Pendidikan Khas Tuaran, Sabah
Stefanus is an innovative music teacher who anchors on the principle of “Focus on Ability, not Disability” in his work with students with special needs. He pioneered the “Suara Kami @ Our Voices” project, which focuses on communication and performance skills, empowering his students to express themselves confidently. To bridge the gap for his students who are visually impaired, Stefanus also creates new teaching aids from recycled materials such as egg cartons to make the experience of learning musical notes more engaging and accessible. The school ensemble has received multiple accolades such as a silver diploma from the XIV European Championship of Folklore “Euro Folk 2022” and first prize at the USA World Music International Competition in 2021.
Mathematics Teacher
SJKC Union, Penang
Jerome is a steadfast teacher who ardently works in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Within his classroom, he integrates sustainability concepts via activities ranging from calculating electricity bills to automated plant watering with Microbit. Along with a few teachers from various schools who are passionate in ESD, they co-founded an NGO called the Green Educator’s Workgroup (GREW) in 2021 that focuses on ESD and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for schools in Penang. Under his tenure as GREW’s President, more than 50 activities / programs related to ESD have been carried out and they have benefited more than 10,000 students.
Science Teacher SK Jengka Pusat 2,Pahang
Understanding the need to support his students in memorising and understanding scientific facts and also to make the teaching and learning experience more enjoyable, Safuan embarked on a journey to create parody songs for Science, which can be used in any part of a Science lesson. His strategy proved to be effective as shown by the increased engagement of his students during classes and also in their academic performance. To date he has over 650 videos on his YouTube Channel and almost 20,000 subscribers and up to 2 million total views.
Mathematics Teacher SJKT Bestari, Bestari
Sadheesh Kumar is a Mathematics teacher who supports students in Tamil vernacular schools. He has conducted various action research plans, which focus on the rudiments of Mathematics such as his patented innovation called the “Number Sense Kit”. His teaching practices proved effective as he successfully increased his school’s UPSR Mathematics results by 25% to a full passing rate from 2004 to 2019. His innovation also won the Gold Award at the state, national and international level. Finally, he also uploaded over 200 videos on his YouTube channel to teach Mathematics and Chinese Language using Tamil.
Design & Technology Teacher SMK Dato’ Ahmed Maher, Kelantan
Zul Afida is the Master Trainer of the Design and Technology Panel (Reka Bentuk dan Teknologi) whose primary approach in the classroom is called “Kaedah Just Upgrade It” (KJUI). The name of her STEM approach believed to bring the potential of every student by upgrading their capabilities to reach greater heights in order to face the new challenges in problem solving. Through KJUI, she provides a differentiated approach to her students by collaborating with the community or external officers to support students in enhancing their products. As a result, more than 100 of her students have participated in STEM innovation programmes up to an international level.
Media & Library TeacherSMK Sultan Bahiyah, Kedah
Dr Zuridah is a passionate Media and Library teacher who utilises her role to improve literacy and inculcate a culture of reading within her students. Furthermore, she trains her school librarians to not just carry out their duties well but also to a calibre of being able to train librarians in more than 30 other schools within the state of Kedah. Beyond her impact with students, she is also an active leader within the community of Media and Library Teachers and co-founded the Organisation of Malaysian Library and Media Teachers (PGPMM), which organises colloquiums, seminars and monthly webinars to help support fellow teachers.
