Maxis eKelas awards most innovative ‘space explorers’ in inaugural STEM competition for students

• 87 winners awarded laptops, gadgets, and digital products
• Competition aims to foster critical thinking among students and encourage them to innovate through coding, creative and design thinking skills, which are becoming new commodities in the digital future
• eKelas programme driven by passion for education, to help students get ahead in the digital future by offering fun and vibrant learning content

Maxis has announced the winners of its first ever nationwide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) competition, Misi Jelajah Digital. A total of four Grand Prize winners and 83 winners nationwide were awarded attractive prizes comprising laptops, gadgets, and digital products.

During the competition, the young challengers also received all-round support with learning modules, demonstrations, and sharing session with STEM experts, including Prof Dato’ Seri Dr Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist and former Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, who gave a special talk and officiated the launch of the competition, and as well as experts from Maxis and Lenovo.

“We want to congratulate all our winners and participants who have demonstrated incredible creativity and innovation in the competition! eKelas is driven by our passion for education, and we want to continue to foster innovation and help students broaden their minds through fun and vibrant digital learning content. This competition is great platform to serve this purpose and we hope to have more of such initiatives this year and beyond. said Mariam Bevi Batcha, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Maxis.

“The most fun part about the Challenge was that it enabled me to create houses, townships, and islands based on our unique Malay culture. I am grateful to eKelas for organising the Challenge and feel thrilled to have won,” said Arif Iskandar, a Grand Prize winner of the competition and Form 4 student from SM Teknik Melaka.

Launched in September last year for students aged 10-17 years old (Year 4 to Form 5), the inaugural competition is part of eKelas, Maxis’ flagship community outreach programme. It aims to foster critical thinking among students and encourage them to innovate through coding, creative and design thinking skills, which are increasingly becoming new commodities in the digital future. The campaign attracted nearly 5,000 new registrations to eKelas within three months. Those who registered also received Physical Activity, Sports and Co-curriculum Assessment (PAJSK) credits.

The submissions by the students for the two challenge pillars, Misi Bumi and Misi Marikh, drew positive feedback from the judges. By coding their own obstacle course, spaceship and human colonies on Mars, the students demonstrated a flair for creativity in their designs and solid understanding of the subject matter, by providing clear explanations on spaceship components and the basic needs for Mars colonisation.

Misi Jelajah Digital is organised in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) #mydigitalmaker and Lenovo Technology Sdn Bhd (Lenovo Malaysia). Approved and supported by the Educational Resources and Technology Division (BSTP), Sports, Arts and Co-curriculum Division (BSKK), and State Education Department under the Ministry of Education, the competition is conducted in accordance with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards.

For more information on eKelas, please visit www.ekelas.com.my