BAC Education Sdn Bhd wins the Online Services - Education award at the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2021

The BAC Education Group's vision to digitise Malaysia led to initiatives that serve education, employment, welfare, and special needs.

The BAC Education Group is dedicated to transforming lives through education. Comprising 25 companies, its mission is to provide a complete education ecosystem that creates real impact by producing global graduates with skills that transcend cultures and geographic borders.

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with current global trends that leans towards digitalisation, has prompted the Group to adopt innovative technology in creating a seamless shift to online projects and initiatives.

In accordance with its vision to contribute towards building a digital Malaysia and extend these developments to the ASEAN economy, the Group focussed on four key areas of sustainable development: education, employment, welfare, and special needs.

Education

The Group firmly believes that education is a fundamental human right and that no student should be left behind. The Group advocates for and is in full support of Malaysia’s ongoing education transformation journey with initiatives aimed at accelerating the adoption of critical 21st century learning skills and practices.

The advent of COVID-19 pandemic created the largest disruption of education systems in history. The BAC Education Group promptly focussed its resources on providing services and supporting communities that were left behind in this abrupt shift to online education.

Some of the Group’s notable initiatives include: BACFlix (the single largest free education initiative by the private sector which manages six specialised online learning portals for primary & secondary school children), ‘A Student A Laptop' Initiative (to provide 2,000 disadvantaged students nationwide with a laptop), and Project DEEP (Digital Enterprise and Employee Programme).

Employment

The employment sector has not escaped the effects of accelerated digitalisation, especially over the past year when specialised IT skills and technological savviness have become prerequisites to any form of employment.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it almost compulsory for the Malaysian workforce to rapidly upskill and reskill to meet the demands of their new roles, especially within SMEs.

To facilitate these fast-moving processes of digitalisation, the Group took a range of bold measures to build a digital workforce and curb unemployment. Among them are the Project DEEP RM 50 Million Education Fund (to upskill and reskill 10,000 unemployed Malaysians for the digital economy for free), Project Entrepreneur (to train and mentor 10,000 startups and existing entrepreneurs to adapt to the new normal for free) and GradJobs.com.my (a free job portal that aims to increase employability amongst fresh graduates). As of May 2021, 3,000 Malaysians have benefited from these projects.

Welfare

A well-supported, appropriately equipped, empowered and protected social service sector is essential, especially to mitigate the damaging effects of the pandemic. However, as with most sectors in this climate, most efforts and initiatives had to be conducted online.

The BAC Education Group took quick steps to acclimatise the social service arms of the company to this new digitised normal. Several initiatives were taken to assist various NGOs and community leaders in their endeavours to aid others in surviving the pandemic. Among them are the Make It Right Movement, GiveBACk.my and Skills Academy

Special Needs

To mitigate the impact of the pandemic on people with special needs, BAC (together with MIRM) works with several NGOs to increase employment and provide opportunities for this community through the SpecialJobs portal. This new digitised platform will ensure that people with special needs will be included in the progression of this new normal.

In addition to these initiatives, the BAC Education Group has successfully moved the operations of its colleges completely online. Students are now able to watch (and re-watch) classes, access resources and engage in student activities all from the comfort of their own homes.

Aside from ensuring its CSR initiatives are able to operate digitally during the pandemic, to provide relief for the nation's most vulnerable, the BAC Education Group’s vision is to build a digital workforce for Malaysia and take these initiatives to the ASEAN economy.