EduCity Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd (EduCity) launched the H.A.P.P.Y. (Healthy, Active and Peaceful Practises for You) Mental Health Awareness Counselling Conference that was organised in conjunction with the month of Mental Health Awareness in October. The most extensive collaboration with Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ), the 2-day counselling conference hosted more than 1,000 counselling teachers from secondary and primary schools in the state of Johor and private education institutions.
This conference equipped educators with the skills and tools to guide their students to understand the early signs of a mental health crisis, including guidance on intervention skills for more severe mental health problems.
Officiated by Md Said bin Daimon, the Director of JPNJ, praised the desire of EduCity to organise this program jointly. “I feel very proud because I stand in front of more than 1,000 counselling teachers from the state of Johor. Your presence today will certainly give meaning to 582,153 students in the state of Johor. This success was only possible when there a good relationship existed EduCity and JPNJ. I hope this relationship continues to ensure that the ecosystem implemented in our education system is always conducive and in line with the latest technology. Among the collaborations that we hope to realise together with EduCity is training for educators and support to improve SPM candidates in a focused manner, for example, for the students who are not eligible to receive their SPM certificate. We also looked forward to collaborating in programs and skills training based on Industry Revolution 4.0. for our students. This is to support the country’s aspiration to focus on introducing digital education that can help improve preparation through reality and practical exposure to potential future leaders of the country in various sectors and industries,” he said during his officiation speech.
The statement was supported by Professor Dr Sakina Sofia Baharom, EduCity’s Director of Operations, who shared EduCity’s passion for the topic of Mental Health and the importance of being a platform for this kind of discussion.
“EduCity Iskandar positioned itself as a centre of education discourse through key education events held for local and international audiences. We are honoured to be selected by JPNJ to host this year’s conference, as this cause is close to our hearts, and we will constantly announce new events and programmes annually. Today’s event is also seen to support our ‘Play It Forward’ brand tagline as we accelerate the community towards reimagining a world where the best practices are implemented in our education system through a holistic ecosystem supported by government and corporate agencies. However, other than championing this good cause yearly, EduCity plays an essential role in providing the right skills and job opportunities to our youth, focusing on the IR4.0 industry to ensure their career pathways are sustainable in the new digital era such as AI, Robotics, Drone, Animation and eGame Design. With JPNJ’s support, we hope to be able to continue our good work in reaching the students in providing them with an opportunity to further their education in prestigious institutions that will accelerate their employability rate to industry quality level,” said Professor Dr Sakina.
Today’s launch also coincides with the announcement of a collaboration between EduCity and TikTok, a leading destination for short-form mobile video. Moving forward, the collaboration agreement will see a joint effort to produce content that has a high educational value purpose, representing EduCity and its Education Partners.
EduCity and TikTok also took this opportunity to raise awareness of the TikTok Mental Health Video Campaign, happening all throughout the month of October 2022. Targeting support from educators to share their advice on the topic, users may use the hashtags #MentalHealth & #TikTokGuru to get more traction in their video content in spreading awareness of Mental Health, including #EduCityIskandar as part of the promotion of the 2-day counselling conference.
