SALCO Community Partnership Project Gives 400 Books to Nyalau

Thursday, 26 February 2009, Kuching – It began with a simple request – “Can SALCO help give our school library some English language story books?” What followed was a community partnership between SALCO and two primary schools at Nyalau, near Bintulu, which saw school children receive story books in return for creating a piece of artwork on their village or school.

In November last year SALCO ran an art competition for the students of Sk Kuala Nyalau and SK Kampung Nyalau, asking the children to draw a picture featuring ‘my village’ or ‘my school’. Every student who entered the competition received a book for themselves, and a book for their school library.

Out of the 220 entries received, 12 drawings were selected to feature in a 2009 SALCO calendar.

Earlier this month 400 story books and over 200 calendars were presented by the SALCO team to the two school principals at Kuala Nyalau and Kampung Nyalau. Calendars have also been given to government departments and groups working on the SALCO smelter project.

There were big smiles all round from the students and teaching staff alike – happy at receiving the books for themselves and for the school library.

Primary school SK Kuala Nyalau is a boarding school with 76 students whilst primary school SK Kampung Nyalau is a day school with 136 students. The medium of teaching is in the Malay language; however English language is taught as a subject and one which the students must obtain a minimum ‘Pass’ rate in the Primary 6 external examination. SALCO’s community project aims to contribute towards encouraging students to improve their reading and speaking skills.

According to SALCO Acting Chief Executive Officer, Greg Rashford, “We hope that by giving each child a book of their own, they will improve their interest in reading and broaden their general knowledge.”

Nyalau is located approximately 10 km from the proposed site of the SALCO aluminium smelter at Samalaju, 60 km from Bintulu.