Social: Community

Our ongoing Kampus Astro programme aims to provide equal access to education to all Malaysians and supports students in their educational journey by providing access to supplementary learning materials as well as hostel facilities. Over the years, Astro has been investing steadily into making learning fun and entertaining to reach and engage more students. To date, we have invested over RM126 million in a wide array of learning content, including our flagship Astro Tutor TV, and Astro Ceria, all also available on Astro GO and On Demand.

Upped, our free online education portal, supports all students with access to interactive learning materials including TV Pendidikan programmes. We also continue to facilitate school-based lessons in 10,500 government schools and teacher activity centres and support 76 children oncology wards as well as School-in-Hospitals nationwide by equipping them with our decoders and TVs to enable free access to 13 learning channels. Overall, our learning content reaches over five million students nationwide in a normal school year. 

Astro Hostels provide lodging support to students residing in the deep interiors of East Malaysia attending SK Magandai and SK Malinsau in Sabah and SK Sungai Paku in Sarawak. These hostels benefit over 200 students yearly by saving each an average of two to three hours of daily commuting time. With over 190,000 hours collectively saved yearly in a normal school year, students are able to channel these towards academic revision, extracurricular and leisure activities, thus improving overall academic performance and well-being.

During the year, we donated laptops, revision books and stationery to these schools to enable teachers and students to access online education content and additional learning materials amid disruption in classroom learning during the lockdowns. We also donated 35 refurbished laptops to B40 families under #MyBaikHati initiative — an industry initiative mooted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to crowdsource used devices for communities in need.

We also organised a Walk for Education event to raise awareness and gather support for remote students who walk to school every day by having the participants simulate a child’s journey – carrying a school bag filled with learning supplies to walk the 5km trail. All school bags and proceeds will go to the hostels Astro supports.

‍

Aimed at developing young talents between 10 to 12 years of age, Astro Kem Badminton (AKB) has trained, mentored and coached over 16,000 children since its establishment in 2012, assisting these young talents in their journey of becoming professional shuttlers.

For over a decade, AKB unearthed numerous young badminton talents and played a role in the journey of many of our national athletes. We are proud that almost three-quarters of the national junior squad are alumni of AKB, with five AKB alumni recently promoted to the BAM national senior squad.

This year, AKB 2022 is back and having its Selection Camps in five states including Johor, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Sarawak. With 1,537 participants in Johor, Penang, KL, Sabah and Sarawak’s camps to date*, Astro is hoping unearth more national champions, just like our AKB alumni including Jacky Kok, Myisha, Valeree Siow, Wan Muhammad Arif, Go Pei Kee and more who are now representing Malaysia in international arenas.