Helping to address literacy issues in Malaysia

Setting the scene

Although Malaysia ranks third in Asia on the EF English Proficiency Index^₁, many underprivileged Malaysian children do not have the opportunity to develop the essential English language skills critical for their education and future employment prospects.

Since 2002, PwC Malaysia’s Community Outreach Programme (COP) aims to provide quality education for underprivileged children between 7-17 years. PwC Malaysia started working with MYReaders in 2017 to focus on addressing English and Malay literacy issues. In 2023, we piloted the use of a digital platform for learning with YTL Foundation.

PwC Malaysia professionals volunteer between 1 - 2 weeks annually of their time, over the course of a 14 week programme at one of the charity homes and schools supported by the firm. . They help the students with their homework, help develop English and Malay language skills and help with necessary administrative tasks at the home or school.

PwC Malaysia volunteers provide personalised tutoring based on the students' needs, particularly when there are smaller classes. Where class sizes are slightly larger, PwC volunteers focus on working with students that need the most help and those who are sitting for exams that year.

_{1 EF English Proficiency Index}

Impact

PwC Malaysia is committed to supporting the programme in meeting the needs of the children and the homes and schools they work with. In 2023, due to the hard work and dedication of the students, teachers and the PwC Malaysia volunteers the programme achieved meaningful results.^₁

At the end of the programme, 74% of the students demonstrated an improvement in their Malay literacy skills while 30% of the students exhibited progress in their English literacy skills.

In one particular home, there was a noticeable improvement in Malay literacy skills among the students. Specifically, 92% of the students demonstrated progress, with an average improvement of 20 marks.

_{1 EF English Proficiency Index}