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PAPAR: Pupils of Year Four to Six at SJKC Cheng Hwa here who are back to school have been exposed to a new communication skill of speaking with confidence in public.

A committee member of the school’s parents’ teachers association (PTA), Stella Matuya said the programme was proposed as one of the activities for the pupils to spend a week familiarising themselves with the school schedule.

She said all the pupils spoke in front of their peers and were able to speak with confidence. “After taking part in the programme, we notice that the pupils are no longer afraid to speak in front of people because they have found out that no one judges them.

“They are confident to say what they want in public, which is good for them and will benefit them in the long run,” she said, who is also the founder of Excellence Skill Academy, here.

Stella said learning and acquiring such a new skill at an early age would instill confidence in the pupils so that they would not have stage fright when participating in public speaking and they could face the audience, whether it was a large or small number of people in a hall or room.

Meanwhile, the school’s principal, Wong Chee Fatt, said that he agreed for the motivation programme to be held at his school for the pupils from Year Four to Six during the first week of the school year 2023/2024.

“I see that this programme is suitable for the pupils and beneficial to them. Therefore, I am grateful to Stella Matuya, who is also a committee member of the PTA SJKC Cheng Hwa Papar and the mothers who helped with the programme at the school,” he said.

Wong said another activity that was conducted at the school was a “gotong-royong” to help clean the school’s compound.

“As the school principal, I always welcome suggestions from outside, including from the PTA which wants to help the school for the benefit of the pupils. “Our pupils were given the opportunity to speak on stage, which is a good activity as it will train them to be confident when speaking in public and delivering a message,” he said.

One of the participants, a Year Six Christian Harvey Clarence, 12, said he was able to speak more confidently in public following the implementation of the programme at the school.

He hoped the activity would be continued so that they could polish their public speaking skills, which is a new social communication skill for him to learn.