By Aida Zulaikha Zulkefly
GOMBAK, 9 May 2017: There are so many ways to strengthen education system that meets current challenges. One of them is by enhancing the knowledge and self awareness. It will be truly successful if students are exposed to more challenging living environment by bringing them to do outside activities.
Exposing students to the outside world, therefore, has an important function in respect of providing realistic input, establishing a dynamic and meaningful context for learning, and increasing student motivation.
For this, “Young Historian”, a two-day and one night programme under HISTFORIUM, was held recently with the objective to create historical awareness among school students. The programme involved IIUM playing a pivotal role in disseminating good values through its students who would become leaders in society upon completion of their studies.
The programme involved 60 students from three different schools; SAM Batu 10 Hulu Langat, SMK Dato Ahmad Razali and SMK Bandar Baru Ampang.
The opening ceremony of the programme was held on 4 May 2017 (Thursday) at the Centre for Malay World and Islamic Civilisation, in Bukit Damansara, officiated by the Dean of Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS), Prof. Dr. Rahmah Ahmad H.Osman, who was accompanied by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hafiz Zakariya, the Deputy Dean of the Institute of Malay World and Islamic Civilisation.
The event was in collaboration with Arkib Negara Malaysia, Memorial Tunku Abdul Rahman, Pejabat Pelajaran Daerah Hulu Langat, Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia Cawangan Kuala Lumpur, and Restoran Nelayan.
After the opening session, the participants were brought to IIUM for a sharing session and refreshment. Later at 9.00 p.m they departed to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Memorial for œInfo Hunt sessions, where they actually toured the memorial compound in the night hours which was described as ‘very interesting and exciting’. The session ended at 1.00 a.m and they spent their night at the memorial.
On the next day, they departed straight to Dataran Merdeka for explorace session, known as œMenjejakIsteri Mr. Brown, where they visited places like Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, MuziumTekstile, Masjid Jamek, Oriental Building, Central Market and other historical attraction around Kuala  Lumpur, and they ended their exciting explorace session at Masjid Negara.
The session continued at Ibn Khaldun International Institute of Advanced Research, famously known as ISTAC, located at Persiaran Duta, where a closing ceremony was held at 6.00 p.m after a few games were played as the last activities with the students.
The closing ceremony involved prize giving and photography session. They were truly thrilled with this awesome experience and they hoped for the same chance to be explored in the future.
HISTFORIUM believes that this programme is one of the ideas to create a knowledge sharing culture between them and societies. They felt it is very important for them to understand that they and the community share the same common values through their very own history.
Through this experience they were able to increase their capacity of learning and in transmitting knowledge to societies. ***