I grew up poor but my extended family is not poor. My grandpa was a politician, he was among the first few Papua New Guineans to have entered the PNG House of Assembly in 1964. He had money, he did send his kids to school. My grandpa had five wives of those my grandma was the first wife. Unfortunately, none of my uncles were educated. My other uncles from grandpa’s other wives were educated. My dad was adopted, that was the other problem. We were just a burden to the big extended family. To make things worse, both my parents never attained any form of formal education.

Muhammad Firdaus Abu Hassan, 29, the recipient of the YSD Inspirational Award 2020, has proven that success is not beyond reach despite disability and poverty.

Blind since the age of 14, he remained tenacious in chasing his goals. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology, and then a Master’s degree in Professional Counselling, both with flying colours.

Muhammad Firdaus’ life story was documented and analysed in a postgraduate study to understand the development of resilience in the underprivileged.

How had the Yayasan Sime Darby Scholarship changed your life?

We asked this question to some of our former YSD scholars, and here's what they had to say about their journey with us!

At YSD, we offer scholarships and bursaries to deserving Malaysians with excellent academic results and leadership qualities.

After 38 years and more than 4,440 students benefiting from the scholarships, we are still very much committed to our mission to support and nurture the future leaders of Malaysia; so if you're one of the aspiring individuals, we hope to see you one day!

The stresses of the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have caused dramatic shifts in education all over the world. As e-learning becomes a necessity rather than an option, classroom lessons are conducted remotely via digital platforms. This approach has been adopted globally both in urban and rural areas as keeping schools open poses health and safety risks for students. However, the costs and requirements of digital learning have posed some challenges among students especially the disadvantaged ones.

Sime Darby Young Innovators Challenge is a Yayasan Sime Darby (YSD) flagship educational programme that promotes the cultivation of an innovative mindset among youth between 13 and 17 years of age in Malaysia. SDYIC participants are given the opportunity to enhance their leadership qualities, learn design thinking and innovative problem solving, as well as prototyping skills, while competing against state-level competition winners. The students will produce workable prototypes and actionable innovative solutions in the various areas in the communities.

The pandemic may have reversed decades of global progress on education in many parts of the country, but the unprecedented crisis has caused further disruption to the most vulnerable sector of communities, the B40. As COVID-19 had suspended formal classroom learning for 4.9 million schoolchildren nationwide while enabling digital learning, B40 students with no access to equipment and internet are the most affected.