IPOH: A team of three girls from SMK Seri Teja in Gopeng made their school proud after winning a gold medal at the Youth International Science Fair in Bali, Indonesia.
The Teja Innovation Team of three 17-year-old girls Lee Ke Xin, Nor Maisarah Ahmad Nizam and Jamie Yap Pei Tian were among 23 out of 43 participating teams from various countries that won a gold medal in the Secondary Level Engineering category.
They also won the Indonesian Young Scientist Association Special Award for their project, named "Savase", a smart farming precision system that automatically waters seedlings in eco-friendly and self-degradable pots.
Besides SMK Seri Teja, SMK Padang Berampah in Sipitang, Sabah and Kolej Genius Insan in Negri Sembilan also won gold medals while SMK Kubang Bemban in Kelantan, picked up the bronze medal.
The fair was open to primary, secondary and tertiary institutions and was held between March 8 and 12.
A total of 673 teams from 23 countries took part, including the host country, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, US, Romania and the United Arab Emirates.
On the project, Nor Maisarah said it consisted of two components, the automatic watering system and also the eco-friendly seedling pots.
She said pots were made from fruit peels and newspapers while the watering system could run on either batteries or power banks.
"The pots can replace polybags, which can affect the environment," she said.
Nor Maisarah said this during an incentive presentation ceremony, where a mock cheque of RM5,000 was presented by Sciences, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang to the school's principal Khairulaniza Khairuddin at the Perak state secretariat building here on Friday (Apr 14).
Lee said the automatic watering system was programmed using the "BBC micro:bit" pocket-sized computer to detect humidity in the soil.
"If the soil is wet, a smiley face will appear on the micro:bit's LED light display. If the soil is dry, a frown will appear along with a beep to alert the user," she said.
Ke Xin said they had been planning their project since July last year.
"After a few trials and improvements, we completed it in December," she said, adding that Savase was in the process of being patented.
"Our inspiration came about after learning that not many people are interested in farming. With such a system, we could encourage them to do a little gardening," she said.
In congratulating the girls, Chang said he hoped that more schools could also focus on science, technology and innovation programmes.
He said SMK Seri Teja's achievement was in line with the ministry's aim and wish for Malaysia to be a high-tech nation by 2030.
"I am confident that if all schools were to take the same path as SMK Seri Teja, our target can be achieved before 2030," he said.
Chang also said that the ministry always tries to encourage people, especially the youth, to be innovators.
"We have two flagship programmes, namely the National Science Week and Malaysia Techlympics, which started last year, to encourage our youth to be involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and innovation.
"There are a lot of interesting ideas from youth - including teenagers - which I think is important for the country," he said.
"If their ideas can be commercialised, the ministry will help them register their intellectual property," he added.
