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Rainforest Schools
A unique program to provide education materials and link UK and Borneo schools
We run a wide range of training courses in-house for schools. These range from first aid and off site safety management courses for staff to DoE first aid or rainforest experience classes for the students.
We passionately believe that expeditions should be a powerful learning experience for both the participants and the wider community.
These educational programs have a vital role to play in the conservation of the forest. Therefore, in partnership with education resource experts Content, we are happy to work with schools on educational links and education sessions.
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What can our programs include?
- We send a number of UK schools to Borneo each year, many of whom are in touch with partner schools in Borneo.
- This can produce materials to allow us to get to know real kids in Borneo, how they live and what they think about the rainforest.
- It also enables Borneo kids to learn more about the UK, about why we value the forest and also have the chance to improve their English skills.
- Using these materials we are happy to come in to talk to the UK schools .
So if you are a teacher or expedition leader and would like to get your school or team involved with this project, email us putting the title rainforest schools on your email.
Partner School.
Sekolah Rendah Kerajaan Long Miri
(Long Miri Government Primary School)
- How many students are there at your school?
The Primary School - 140 students
The Kindy - 20 kids
- What is the age range?
Between 6 and 12
- Tell us about your school
There is 1 main classroom block raised about 3 metres above the ground, and it accommodates 4 classrooms, 1 teachers/staff room and an office. There is a staff quarters block where the headmaster and teachers from outside the village live. The classrooms do not have any air-con or fans (as there is no 24-hr electricity). Each class has 30-40 kids. We have a football pitch, an open basketball/volleyball court. The school is just 15 minutes walk from the village and 50 metres from the mighty Baram river. It is a non-boarding school. We teach in Bahasa Malaysia (Malay), with English taught as a compulsory subject. We still rely quite a bit on 'live' TV school programmes to compliment what is taught by the teachers. We start at 7 and finish by lunch, Mon-Fri. In the afternoon we do extra-curricular activities and simple tasks such as sweeping and cleaning the classrooms and school compound, gardening and play games. We have a school assembly (gathering of everyone) once a week where we sing the national anthem, raise the Malaysian flag, announcements of new things are made by the headmaster and any other necessary issues are raised.
We have a small library in the village where all the books are given by the government and donated by private organisations and individuals.
We think students from a UK school would find life and the atmosphere at our school quite different from theirs. Facilities here are very limited and inadequate. Our classroom atmosphere will be quite different from those in the UK (we have the most basic of things - cheap and mostly dilapidated desks and chairs). The classes are crowded (30-40), but despite the divided attention of teachers the students are quite disciplined. The Kayans are simple and easy-going people. There is little to do after class apart from the usual extra-curricular activities and games. The students have nowhere to go for extra tuitions in the evening like those kids in the cities. Everything is simple and basic.
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- Describe your town or village.
Daleh Long Pelutan is a small Kayan village of some 100 families. Most of the younger generation (apart from the ones at our school) are away in cities for their studies and work. The village itself used to be one very long longhouse but it is now split to a few shorter longhouses with some individual houses. We do not have 24-hr electricity; rather relying only on individually owned gen sets (which only come on at night). The village is 5 hours quite bumpy ride on 4WDs from the closest city, Miri. Sundries are quite expensive as they have to be transported all the way from Miri. We plant our own rice; most go fishing and hunt for meat and rely a lot on jungle vegetables such as ferns and tapioca leaves. The village has a few sundry shops where we can buy basics such as soap, toothpaste, sugar, salt, coffee, powdered milk and other basic necessities.
The villagers are mostly farmers and quite a number are employed by logging companies in the area.
- Describe the countryside around your school.
The school and the village is basically surrounded by secondary forest, most of which are already cultivated with rice, fruits trees and oil palm. Oil palm is the latest to hit the villagers as the income from it is quite lucrative! On the opposite side of the Baram river from the village are still mostly forested. This is where we go hunting for meat and fishing.
- How far is it from your school to the nearest rain forest?
The primary forest (the little of it left) is actually quite far away (some 2 to 3 days' walk; there are no other means of getting there). However, there are patches of secondary forest just minutes away from the village.
- What changes have you noticed in the rain forest in recent years?
People have turned to oil palm planting to generate income for their families. Logging of timber have been ongoing for the past 30-35 years in our area and most of the primary jungle are logged. Because of this rivers tend to swell and flood very easily and we never get to see the crystal clear water in our rivers anymore. Wild animals are scarce, fish become fewer.
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