Titan Chemicals Corp. Bhd. in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Malaysia is launching a new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative called the Plastic Education Program, a multi-pronged environmental education program for 10 Johor secondary schools beginning May 2008.

Apart from establishing good corporate citizenship in relations to environment education, the program intends to impart knowledge on environment conservation and problem-solving techniques to the students towards solving on-site environmental problems at their schools.

This Plastics Education Program (PEP) is based on the Collaborative thrust, modeled as below:

Titan Chemicals Corp. Bhd, as the Program Owner is responsible to organize the event, manage manpower and budget as well as the program content.

Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia or the Ministry of Education (MoE) is a partner to the program. Besides endorsing the program, the MoE is the approving authority for the participation of schools to take part as well as for the program content. The MoE is also responsible in coordinating the entire program with Titan Chemicals.

As for the Department of Environment’s (DoE) participation in PEP, we anticipate its inclusion as a partner in the program will only materialize when the participating schools have completed their assigned projects by end of October. Titan Chemicals with the assistance of the MoE will attempt to recommend that these schools with their respective completed projects to be enlisted in Program Lestari, an environmental education project championed by both the DoE and MoE.

Selected schools, on the other hand, will provide eight students from Form Four students from the Science Stream and two accompanying teachers. Why students from the Science Stream? At this level, these average 16-year-olds start to be exposed to polymer science, as part of the syllabus in the subject of Chemistry. This extended knowledge that Titan Chemicals attempts to provide will assist the students to understand better and wider on polymer science and it will, in a small way, complement the Ministry of Education’s curriculum. The participants are responsible in attending required trainings, implementing environmental conservation projects, delivering practical and sustainable projects and subsequently, submitting the report of the implemented projects.

In pursuing this program, an eight-stage mechanism is adopted, simplified as follows:

1. Brainstorming of this program by the program owner.
2. Setting up a Task Force to manage the program.
3. Developing the proposal and seeking approval from relevant authorities.
4. Conducting initial workshop to expose participants on program content and program rules & regulations.
5. Implementing the project by participants with supervision by teacher-in-charge & under the coach and guidance of program owner mentors.
6. Verification by Task Force on the feasibility & sustainability of the project and mid-stream audit.
7. On-site judging on the project submission for creativity, innovative, practicality and sustainability.
8. Organizing CEC –Convention & Exhibition & Closing ceremony.

The program is conducted in English, which is in tandem with the Ministry of Education’s direction and policy of using English as the language medium in teaching Mathematics and Science in schools.

It is anticipated that positive educational outcomes are produced in the program, as stated below:

• To promote and encourage active environmental conservation and quality improvement programs in schools
• To impart knowledge on project management and problem-solving techniques in regards to solving environmental issues at schools
• To promote creativity and innovation amongst students
• To expose students on the petrochemical & polymer industry
• To promote and enhance the image & reputation of Titan as good corporate citizen in relations to environment education

The entire program offers a variety of benefits in their learning process:

• Participation – It provides a platform to be actively involved in social activities in conserving and protecting the environment, starting with their own school and home
• Life Skills - It focuses on life skills which students can apply on any problem through scientific approach, both academically and in their personal lives
• Awareness – It promotes awareness amongst the students on the importance of environmental issues and their impact on our society
• Sensitivity - It assists students to gain a variety of experience and acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment
• Thinking - It helps students to acquire critical thinking in deploying project management approach and problem-solving tools to solving environmental issues in schools
• Innovation – It moulds students to be innovative in their approach in coming up solutions to the implemented projects
• Creativity – It pushes students to be creative and think outside the box in presenting their ideas and thoughts in their projects