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In staying true to its vision of providing access to information technology learning for underprivileged communities, Rentwise Malaysia has once again demonstrated that a committed CSR program can be both “green” and meaningful to society.

Working with Macquarie Malaysia, 20 remanufactured computers were given a new lease of life and deployed over 7 centres of the National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) located at the Klang valley.

As a collaborative CSR program with Macquarie Malaysia, the desktop computers were handed over to Rentwise Malaysia. Drawing on its specialized expertise in remanufacturing used IT hardware, these computers were cosmetically enhanced by Rentwise. After being subjected to rigorous testing and repair procedures, the condition of the computers was restored to as good as new. This joint CSR effort between Macquarie and Rentwise saw the largest deployment of computers at NASOM Titiwangsa branch – where 6 computers were setup for students and 2 for teachers.

The National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) is a society formed in 1986 by a group of parents and professionals with the aim of delivering lifelong services to the community of persons suffering from autism.  It is a recognized charitable organisation and it strives to provide a range of support services to assist people with autism, especially children and their immediate family members. NASOM depends greatly on the support, sponsorships and donations from well wishers and corporate sponsors to help them fund their operations and activities.

Since its inception in 2013, NASOM Titiwangsa has been without computers. The centre has about 60 students aged between 4-21 years old and is run by 17 staff including the centre’s Co-Ordinator, Mano. These donated computers will be used by the students to surf the Internet and access educational applications such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint.

According to Mano, autistic children have short attention span and various behavioral and communication issues. As visually inclined children, they respond well to animated materials and photos. These effective means help enhance their learning experience. Through this method, the children will not be easily bored and are more likely to sit in front of the computer for a long time.

“The use of technology such as the desktop computers provide a good solution to address personality traits exhibited by autistic children,” says Mano. NASOM Titiwangsa has a range of mild, moderate and severe cases of autism. The donated computers will be used to play educational songs and games to cater to this wide range of children with special needs. “In this centre, highly functional or mildly autistic children who are in the ‘mainstream inclusion’ program stand to benefit the most from using these computers,“ Mano adds.

The centre has a merit program to reinforce good behavior whereby children who behave themselves will be rewarded with 45 minutes of computer sessions during which they can use the computer for whatever purposes they wish. These children normally have sensory problems; hence in order to calm them down, the computer is used as a tool to reduce undesirable behavior.

“We are indeed very grateful for these donated computers by Macquarie and Rentwise because they will help enhance our students’ learning skills, reduce unwanted behavior, improve attention span and increase their focusing abilities,” Mano enthuses. Teachers would also be able to use the computers to prepare teaching materials.

Rentwise Malaysia is certainly hopeful that the children of Nasom Titiwangsa will greatly benefit from using these computers as IT skills will lead to a much improved quality of life.

More importantly, it’s been a truly rewarding endeavor as not only the remanufactured computers been used for a good cause; their very extended life span for this purpose will definitely make for a greener environment.

Rentwise Malaysia looks forward to partnering with organisations that wish to dispose of their old IT equipment. Our technical expertise and DOE-compliant remanufacturing and IT disposal processes enable us to refresh and extend the life span of old IT equipment for a greener world. Corporate organisations who wish to contribute to this CSR initiative or schools who are interested to apply as our program participants can get in touch with us.

SK St. Mary School received 30 remanufactured desktop computers in early 2017 as part of Rentwise Malaysia’s joint CSR program with the Sunway Education group. This momentous occasion was celebrated with an opening ceremony of the school’s computer lab.

The setting up of this computer lab was also made possible by donated computers from other parties involved; 5 desktops from Felda ProData and 10 desktops from Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The desktop computers supplied to Rentwise by the Sunway Education Group were subjected to high standards of remanufacturing process, involving cosmetic refurbishment, change of components where necessary, repair works and installation of selected software before being donated to the school.

Rentwise Malaysia’s ongoing CSR campaign since 2012 has been about identifying and helping needy schools without computer lab or having an existing computer lab in dire need of an upgrade. SK St. Mary has been without a computer lab for many years. This has been a huge challenge for both students and teachers alike who aspire for better learning infrastructure.

In 2016, the Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA) of the school began planning for the setup of the computer lab. Teachers and parents worked hard to make this dream a reality. Financial assistance for the installation of electrical wiring was also sponsored by the relevant parties to make this computer lab a reality.

“With this computer lab, we hope to enhance computer skills of our students. Teachers can now create blogs and prepare online assignments for students,” says Ngan Wai Fun, the headmistress of SK St. Mary, during the official launch of the computer lab on 16 January 2017. “Now, students can go to the computer lab during their free time or after school hours to do their homework. The Internet has been a great resource for them to do their research,” Ngan adds.

All the teachers are really happy to have a new channel of engagement with the students. As a resourceful tool to expand the minds of students, the computer lab is the first step towards realizing bigger changes in the learning process.

As of 2017, SK St. Mary has 957 pupils and about 60 teachers. “Everyone is excited over this new computer lab. Our teachers can now deliver their lessons through carefully designed software and e-activities pre-loaded in the computers,” Ngan says.

“Using remanufactured computers help reduce carbon footprint for a greener tomorrow while benefitting our future generation. Rentwise’s remanufactured computers are being used by over 200 mid to large size enterprises and business organisations in Malaysia,” says Lai Kien Wah, Rentwise’s representative, during his opening speech.

“While our effort in Green IT is making progress, it’s important for us to contribute back to the community, hence our CSR project together with our partner, Sunway Education Group,” Lai says. The Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Foundation must be praised for sending their computers to Rentwise to be remanufactured before being donated to the school. “This CSR project is the brainchild of our CEO, Leanne Ooi, as we believe the essential purpose of Rentwise is to provide products and services that benefit environment, businesses and community,” Lai explains.

A plaque has been installed outside the computer lab to commemorate its official opening. This was made possible by Rentwise Malaysia and the Sunway Education Group. Lai; represented Rentwise whilst Dato’ Stanley Isaacs, on behalf of SK St. Mary school signed the plaque to mark the official hand over of computers by the joint CSR partnership team of Rentwise and Sunway Education Group.

Dato’ Stanley Isaacs, the Chairman of the Board of Governors for both St. Mary’s Primary and Secondary schools together with the Guest of Honour, Syamsul Rezal bin Abdul Rahman, the Unit Head of Academic Management from Education Office of Sentul Territory proceeded to inaugurate the computer lab in a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the presence of teachers and students.

“To all teachers of SK St. Mary, use these computers to your best advantage in educating the students, as you now have unlimited resources and power in your hands to enrich the learning experience of our future generation,” Syamsul says.

Ngan notes that the computer lab is necessary for the development of children’s learning. The launch of this computer lab is in line with the 13 years plan of PPPM (Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia) spanning 2013-2025 to use IT to increase quality of education in Malaysia. “Computers are likened to daily essential tools for learning and not considered a luxurious item anymore,” Ngan remarks.

With the donation of remanufactured computers to SK St. Mary, Rentwise hopes that this becomes the much needed catalyst to accelerate growth and learning for the future generation of Malaysians. As an advocate of Green IT, Rentwise firmly believes in driving sustainable business while preserving the environment.

Rentwise Malaysia looks forward to partnering with organisations that wish to dispose of their old IT equipment. Our technical expertise and DOE-compliant remanufacturing and IT disposal processes enable us to refresh and extend the life span of old IT equipment for a greener world. Corporate organisations who wish to contribute to this CSR initiative or schools who are interested to apply as our program participants can get in touch with us.

In a rather unexpected twist of events, the news of Ang Misyon present in Malaysia for an orchestra performance at KLPAC reached us at Rentwise Malaysia. We have decided to donate 4 remanufactured branded laptops to the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY) represented by Ang Misyon in July 2016, thus making Ang Misyon the first organisation outside of Malaysia to have benefited from our CSR program.

These DELL Latitude E6330 Core i5 laptops preloaded with licensed Windows 7 come with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, DVDRW and Office Productivity Suite. The laptops which looked as good as new were delivered in nicely packaged and padded backpacks complete with the necessary installation CDs for the relevant software and drivers.

The talented young musicians who make up the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth come from families who earn less than USD 200 a month. Poverty in the Philippines have driven many rural young Filipinos to either beg, engage in child labour or theft just for daily survival. Regrettably, such socio-economic situation has deprived many children from education opportunities, let alone having affordable access to ICT learning skills.

The selected 4 satellite groups from various provinces will each have a laptop to be shared among all the children within that satellite. This comes as a great cost saving benefit as the children would now be able to reduce their cyber cafe visits. We were even made to understand that a large number of these children learn playing music from YouTube! With the donated laptops, we hope this will help improve their music learning process apart from the usual computer lessons.

We are indeed immensely glad to put a smile on the faces of these young ones, just as how passionate they have enlivened everyone with their inspiring and moving music.

Update: July 2017

One year on, the young musicians of the OFY are seen here using the donated laptops in their homes.

Corporate organisations who wish to contribute to this CSR initiative or schools who are interested to apply as our program participants can get in touch with us.