5/3/2014 — http://www.bernama.com/bernama
MARAN, PAHANG – 3 MAY 2014: The East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) continued its momentum of bringing world-class motivational courses to its empower ECER programme participants, this time by organising a course known as “The Magic Ladder to Success Through Napoleon Hill Principles” for 300 Form 5 students in the district.
The course was specially held for empower ECER Maran Academic Training programme participants, who are mostly children from underprivileged families, ahead of the upcoming Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination this year. It was aimed at providing the students with strategic tips on time management, study techniques for better results and personal goal-setting to bring out the best in them.
The students were from SMK Tengku Ampuan Afzan, SMK Maran, SMK Jengka 2, SMK Kampung Awah and SMK Teknik Maran. Upon completing the half-day course, the participants received their certificate of attendance from the Guest of Honor, YB Haji Mohamed Arifin bin Awang Ismail, State Assemblyman of Chenor.
First introduced by ECERDC in 2010 beginning in Bentong, Pahang, empower ECER human capital programme has since been expanded to 17 locations in the East Coast Economic Region (ECER). These include four new locations launched this year, namely Maran and Jerantut in Pahang, Ketereh in Kelantan and Besut in Terengganu.
“empower ECER goes well beyond preparing the students to achieve better grades for their examinations, as it also emphasizes on their personal development,” said ECERDC Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Jebasingam Issace John.
By organising this event, ECERDC is providing the rural students with access to world-class programmes such as that of Napoleon Hill and Stephen Covey, among others, thus giving them a more level playing field in achieving success in both the academic and personal aspects of their lives, he noted.
Since its launch four years ago, empower ECER Academic Training programme participants have been achieving 100% passes in their respective examinations after attending the programme, with several mediocre participants emerging as high achievers as they obtained 6A’s and above in the national examinations.
empower ECER is the flagship human capital development program implemented by ECERDC in ECER that combines remedial classes with personal development and confidence building sessions. To create a more level playing field, empower ECER focuses on exposing participants to a variety of learning experiences. Since last January, empower ECER has conducted courses aligned to famous personal development gurus such as Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey for its first batch of students in its new sites in Ketereh, Besut and Mersing.
empower ECER is a twin-pronged human capital development initiative launched by ECERDC in 2010 to help reduce economic disparities between rural and urban communities. It consists of the Academic Training programme and Skills and Entrepreneurship Training Programme. The latter focuses on vocational training for single mothers, jobless youths and disadvantaged individuals. Currently empower ECER Maran has 400 Academic Training programme participants and 400 Skills and Training Programme participants. Overall, there are 7,707 empower ECER participants in Pahang in 2014, comprising 5,257 students and 2,450 adults.
empower ECER is currently conducted in 17 locations in ECER, namely, Jeli, Bachok and Ketereh in Kelantan; Kemaman, Dungun, Besut and Hulu Terengganu in Terengganu; Bentong, Temerloh, Raub, Lipis, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Pahang, Jerantut, Maran and Rompin in Pahang; and Mersing in Johor.
To date, a total of 34,113 participants, comprising 22,938 students and 11,175 adults have benefitted from empower ECER. Students to date have recorded a 100% pass rate, with several scoring outstanding results. For adult participants, it is estimated that up to 80% of participants will gain employment after completing their courses, or have sufficient knowledge and practical experience to start their own business and the ability to generate income of between RM500 and RM1,500 per month, or even more.
