22nd September, 2014

SHAH ALAM: Collaboration for change is the key theme in this years Toyota Eco Youth (TEY) challenge, an environmental competition among secondary schools.

Initiated in 2001, the nationwide competition involving sixteen schools required participating teams to seek environmental problems in their community and find solutions for them.

In their 12th year this year, the TEY programme is one of the key CSR pillars of UMW Toyota Motor.

One of the key elements of the eco-challenge is the Toyotas 8-step Problem Solving Methodology, which provides clear guidelines on how to identify a problem, find possible solutions and monitor the situation to ensure it works.

Initially targeting the environmental problems in school, TEY was extended to include environmental problems in the local community in 2011.

Environmental awareness remains low among most Malaysians, mainly because most people feel problems such as littering, erosion, clogged drains, polluted riverways and others are the responsibilities of the municipal councils.

Instead of waiting and complaining, the TEY drives students to take proactive steps in seeking out solutions for their community.

During the onsite judging, the TEY committee was pleasantly surprised to find participating schools taking on relatively big projects such as transforming a contaminated back street in Machang, Kelantan into an Art Street.

Previously a filthy, rat-infested zone, Lorong Che Mek Molek is now a tourist attraction after the students from SMK Hamzah 2 gave the drainage system and pathway a complete overhaul and painted it with colourful murals.

Original post:

Toyota Eco Youth sees big projects