Chang congratulated the girls and expressed his hope that more schools would implement programmes centred on science, technology, and innovation.
After taking home the gold medal at the Youth International Science Fair in Bali, Indonesia, a team of three girls from SMK Seri Teja in Gopeng brought honour to their school.
One of 23 out of 43 competing teams from different nations that won a gold medal in the Secondary Level Engineering category was the Teja Innovation Team, which consisted of three 17-year-old girls: Lee Ke Xin, Nor Maisarah Ahmad Nizam, and Jamie Yap Pei Tian.
They also received a Special Award from the Indonesian Young Scientist Association for their “Savase” project, a smart farming system that automatically waters seedlings in pots made of biodegradable materials.
Along with SMK Seri Teja, other schools that took home gold medals from Youth International Science Fair in Bali, were SMK Padang Berampah in Sipitang, Sabah, and Kolej Genius Insan in Negri Sembilan. SMK Kubang Bemban in Kelantan won the bronze medal.
The fair, which was open to institutions in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors, took place from March 8 to March 12. 673 teams in all, representing 23 nations, competed, including the host nation, Turkey, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Romania, and the United Arab Emirates. Nor Maisarah described the project as having two parts: an automatic watering system and environmentally friendly seedling pots.
She claimed that pots were made of newspaper and fruit peels, and the watering system could be powered by batteries or power banks.
She said, “The pots can replace polybags, which can have an impact on the environment. Nor Maisarah made this statement at an incentive presentation ceremony on Friday at the Perak state secretariat building, where Minister of Sciences, Technology, and Innovation Chang Lih Kang gave school principal Khairulaniza Khairuddin a mock cheque for RM5,000.
Lee claimed that the “BBC micro:bit” pocket-sized computer was used to programme the automatic watering system to detect soil moisture.
“A smiley face will show up on the micro:LED bit’s light display if the soil is moist. To warn the user that the soil is dry, a frown and a beep will appear “She spoke. According to Ke Xin, the project has been in the works since July of last year. She added that Savase was currently being patented.
“After a few trials and improvements, we completed it in December,” she said. “Learning that few people are interested in farming gave us the idea for this project. We could encourage them to engage in some gardening with such a system, she said.
Chang congratulated the girls and expressed his hope that more schools would implement programmes centred on science, technology, and innovation.
He claimed that SMK Seri Teja’s accomplishments were consistent with the ministry’s goal and desire for Malaysia to become a high-tech nation by 2030. I am confident that our goal can be met before 2030 if all schools follow SMK Seri Teja’s lead, the principal declared. Chang added that the ministry constantly works to inspire people, particularly young people, to be innovators.
“We have two flagship initiatives, the National Science Week and the Malaysia Techlympics, both of which debuted last year, to inspire our youth to pursue careers in STEM fields and innovation. “Youth, including teenagers, have a lot of interesting ideas, which I think is important for the country,” he said.
The ministry will assist them in registering their intellectual property if their ideas can be made into products, he continued.