Star journalist wins Best Issue Analysis Award


THE Star Media Group journalist Sandhya Menon (pic) received the Institut Agro Usahawan (iGROW) ‘Best Issue Analysis Award’ for her extensive coverage of the country’s Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) system.

In a ceremony held in Kampung Gajah, Perak, on July 9, iGROW awarded journalists for the role they played in highlighting and creating awareness on the TVET industry.

Sandhya received a trophy, certificate and prize money of RM500 from the institute for her article “Skills training goes online” which was published on May 3 in StarEdu.

iGROW executive chairman Nordin Abdul Malek said her article had helped the industry highlight the importance of introducing online learning for TVET education during the movement control order (MCO).

“When the MCO was announced and the government ordered educational institutes to close and go online instead, we were left wondering about skills training institutes and how they will continue their lessons, which are very hands-on.

“After the article came out, the government gave them the green light to use e-learning platforms, which allowed students and lecturers to embrace the new norm,” he said.

The media award was presented during the institute’s Storytelling Advertising Strategy Award ceremony to recognise the effort small businesses took to increase their income during the MCO.

Nordin said almost all these businesses are owned by those with TVET skills.

“We wanted to acknowledge the hard work they put into boosting their sales in the food processing industry and to develop TVET entrepreneurs in Perak.

“By having such skills, these owners increased the sales of

their product by RM100,000 a month in spite of the MCO,” he said.

Thanking iGrow for the recognition, Sandhya, who won the Best Media Award (for print) 2019 from the Social Security Organisation (Socso) for her coverage and reports on TVET issues, said skills training is crucial for the future of the education system.

“We have a huge pool of talent that needs quality training to enable them to contribute to nation building.

“Being recognised for my work in TVET means so much because it is an area that I am very passionate about.”

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Institut Agro Usahawan , iGROW , MCO , TVET

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