Meet the guru of inventions

1 Smart control: Team SK Meru explaining the benefits of their invention that tracks students’ movements in and out of class to a judge earlier this year.2 Young inventors: SK Sementa in Klang earned the second place in the first national invention competition for schools called the Eureka Peringkat Kebangsaan 1996, thanks to the writer.3 Great mentor: Hay (left) with his team from SK Sementa in 2002. He supervised the team which came up with the Wakie-wakie pillow especially for the hearing impaired. The pillow, among other things, acts as an alarm clock or door bell by vibrating.4 One for the album: The Malaysian gold medal winners posing at the International Young Inventors Award 2015 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hay’s student Firzana Syairah Hussin (back row, fifth from left) from SK Meru was the youngest.

Some two decades ago when unconventional teaching methods were unheard of, a dedicated teacher was already inspiring his charges to come up with their own inventions.

IN April, I was delighted to receive an invitation from SP Setia Foundation that it will be reviving its “Caring School” project through a new initiative called the Setia Caring School Programme.