Volunteers cross tough terrain, rivers in Nabawan and Tenom to deliver kits
An outreach mission across interior Sabah brought essential educational supplies to 1,049 pupils in 15 remote schools, offering tangible support to children living in hard-to-reach areas.
The Forces of Love for Educare (FOL) mission saw volunteers distributing school essential items to rural schools across Nabawan and Tenom.
To reach some of the most isolated settlements, distribution teams navigated challenging terrain using four-wheel-drive vehicles and boats along river routes, FOL said in a media statement.
Sabah Education Department (JPNS) director Abidin Marjan expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the FOL team, corporate sponsors, donors and volunteers for their long-standing dedication to supporting interior education.
He said FOL had been carrying out educational outreach initiatives since 2015.
To date, these efforts have benefitted over 19,000 students across Sabah, significantly easing the financial burden on rural families.
“This extraordinary contribution reflects our shared compassion, collective responsibility and belief that every child deserves the opportunity to pursue an education with dignity, confidence and hope,” said Abidin.
He said close collaboration between education authorities, corporate partners, community organisations and individuals were vital to advancing the goals of Malaysia Education Blueprint 2026-2035, particularly in promoting educational equity, supporting student well-being and ensuring no child is left behind.
The English for Life programme – a language initiative co-founded with FOL – had yielded encouraging results in Tenom, Nabawan and Keningau, he said.
Building on this success, JPNS planned to expand the programme to Pitas district to further enhance English proficiency and oral communication skills among rural students, Abidin added.
A team of 17 volunteers – eight from Peninsular Malaysia and nine from Sabah – split into four distribution teams during the four-day trek.
Each pupil received a supply kit packed with essential items including school bag, uniform, shoes, socks, stationery, raincoat and water bottle.
Year 5 and Year 6 pupils were additionally provided with Oxford bilingual dictionaries and geometry sets.
FOL also partnered with Nabawan Fire and Rescue Station to conduct fire and water safety awareness sessions for students at several schools.
