Guiding voice: (Top) Hema says Phase II of the Project BacaBaca is already in the works.
THE School of Education at Taylor’s University recently began a reading project meant to help children from disadvantaged homes catch up after their learning was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dubbed Projek BacaBaca, it focuses on improving the children’s Bahasa Malaysia and English reading skills with the help of dedicated “reading coaches” guiding them over the course of six months.
The project uses an evidence-based approach to improve learning outcomes and is designed to assist parents and communities to better support the literacy development of their children.
The coaches – who are Taylor’s University and Taylor’s College students – provide individual, tailor-made reading sessions to the children and track their progress using diagnostic mid-term and end-term tests.
Muhammad Raiqal Faiz, nine, (left) being guided by his reading coach on the telephone.“Our goal for this project is to enable the reading coaches to monitor the children’s progress and eventually help children read at grade level and close the learning gap that resulted from the pandemic,” said Taylor’s University School of Education senior lecturer Hema Letchamanan.
The project is designed for students who do not have Internet access. All they need is a telephone connection as sessions are done through voice calls.
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