Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Permai in Bayan Baru near here has been shortlisted among the top 10 of the World’s Best Schools for Innovation.

Penang State Education director Abdul Rashid Abdul Samad said this when he was present at SK Seri Permai to follow the online announcement broadcast ‘live’ at 2pm today by T4 Education based in the United Kingdom to celebrate World Education Week.

Abdul Rashid congratulated the national primary school and hoped that the Smart and Easy Table (SnET) 2.0 innovation of table-and-book storage space, could be emulated by other schools in Penang.

“After being listed in the top 10, SK Seri Permai will wait until this October to either be listed in the top three before the final winner is announced and we hope this school can score a victory.

"We at the Penang Department of Education and the Ministry of Education (MOH) are very proud and elated with the success story of SK Seri Permai, I believe this is the result of the efforts of all parties, especially the principal, teachers and students,” he said here today.

Meanwhile, SK Seri Permai principal Mohammad Sabarullah Shaik Ismail said that SnET 2.0 was developed by him with the cooperation of the teachers and that the innovation was the first in Malaysia and the world.

He said in addition to overcoming the issue of lugging heavy school bags, the grassroots solution transforms the schooling experience into a more conducive learning environment for students, thus attracting the interest of several other countries to emulate SnET 2.0 in their schools.

He said the work of installing desks complete with storage for textbook in drawers and places to keep bags and writing equipment had entered phase three with more than 500 SnEt 2.0 being used by the pupils.

“We started developing SnET 2.0 since 2020 and so far the third phase, which is about 300 more (smart tables), is expected to be completed this September for the use of all 1,500 students.

“SK Seri Permai has two sessions, so 800 desks are enough for all the students,” he said.

He said that this SnET innovation has made it a pleasant experience for students in class and in addition overcome the issue of heavy bags which ranged from seven to 10 kgs, but now weighs only 2.5kg.

He said the design of the multi-purpose table and chair was an innovation achieved with the cooperation of Mara Skills Institute (IKM) Sungai Petani and SMK Raja Tun Uda (SMKRTU), with the support of the state Education Department (JPN).

Source: BERNAMA News Agency