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KENINGAU: Keningau Vocational College English teacher Dr Sirhajwan Idek received the Youth Achievement Record Award at the Asean Future Generation Business Forum which is a side event of the Asean Summit at the Ritz Carlton Pacific Place Hotel Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday.

The award given for the first time by Gen Youth, a Southeast Asia youth association, aims to celebrate the achievements and contributions of youth in Southeast Asia presented by Malaysia’s Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Adam Adli.

“There are eight recipients of this award from Southeast Asian countries,” said Dr Sirhajwan who was nominated by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports in recognition of the record he created and was the first Asian to win the International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Excellence in Teaching Award in Paris in 2017.

On Sept 22, 2017, Dr Sirhajwan created a record after beating eight other finalists from Russia, the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Denmark and Colombia to win first place in the International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Excellence in Teaching Award at the European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Paris, France, organised by Academic Conferences International.

“As the Head of Research and Innovation at KV Keningau since 2016, I have guided some 700 students and nearly 100 teachers at the college to present their projects at research conferences and innovation competitions online and face-to-face in the country and abroad.

“His students have won various medals, prizes and grants including grants amounting to RM 20,000, RM 10,000 and RM 8,000 from the Pitchborneo, Shell LiveWIRE and Pitchbah competitions,” he said.

Dr Sirhajwan said two of his students, Alesyah Asa and Nurul Nazieha Jasnie, were among the top 10 and 50 finalists for the Global Student Prize Award respectively, the most prestigious award for students in the world in 2022 and 2023 offering cash prizes amounting to USD100,000 to the winner.

He had conducted nearly 300 workshops, talks and webinars regarding innovation strategies for educators and students in Malaysia and abroad.

“In 2022, I have been selected as the first recipient of the Charismatic National Youth Icon Award presented by Minister of Youth and Sports, Hannah Yeoh,” he said.

Dr Sirhajwan was moved by the recognition considering that it was able to dignify the teaching profession as an important career in educating the younger generation.

Director of KV Keningau, Nordin Akup expressed his pride in the teacher’s achievement because this would inspire the college’s students to continue to pursue their ambitions and have a positive impact on others.

Profile of Dr Sirhajwan as the recipient of the Youth Achievement Record award can be accessed through the following link:

https://youthachievementrecords.com/2023/08/14/mohd-sirhajwan-bin-idek-is-the-first-asian-to-win-the- international-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-excellence-in-teaching-award/.