In Malaysia, co-curricular education is considered of highly significance in the development of students’ physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual skills. After school, students can voluntarily choose from a great variety of learning activities in three main areas: “Clubs and Societies” (eg., Language Clubs), Uniform Bodies (eg., Police Cadet) and Sports (eg., Football Club). Student participation in this type of learning opportunities is considerably high as it counts towards their final schooling mark to enable them get bonus points to step into next level of education.

Sajahtera Clubs is a co-curricular education initiative led by RCE Penang and facilitated by primary and secondary schools, which has been created with the aim of developing students’ leadership capabilities in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Schools and teachers interested in creating Sejahtera Clubs are supported by RCE Penang through capacity development trainings, development of resources and mentoring.

The name of the club has been borrowed from the Sejahtera Concept developed and practiced by the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) since 2000. “Sejahtera” is an indigenous word from Malaysia which is usually translated into “well-being”, but it actually cuts across spiritual, social, physical, mental, intellectual, emotional and environmental dimensions. Sejahtera is therefore the conceptual framework used by USM to embed sustainability in all its activities and to especially engage university students in learning in this area. The idea behind the Sejahtera Clubs initiative was to use all the expertise and lessons learned from implementing the Sejahtera concept in a higher education context to support schools in engaging youth in sustainability issues.

The Sejahtera Clubs initiative is based on three core principles:

1) Leadership for ESD. This club is mainly aimed to produce future leaders with sustainable mindset. As for that, they will be given inputs in form of training, programs and activities with this club. As they completed their studies, it is expected that they have sustainability mind set to enforce sustainable based laws, policy and actions once they have power to administer any body or department.. B. Education for Sustainable Development concept ESD is the main mechanism of the inputs in Kelab Sejahtera education through multiple levels of stakeholders and educational institutions. The interaction with the school teachers and students also will be done in both ways (RCE Penang-schools and schools-RCE Penang).

Educators: The training for the teachers will be implemented in January 2015 as the school session will only be begin on the first week of January 2015. The training includes workshops, webinar and so on for the teachers have a crystal clear of ESD and Sejahtera concepts that will be implemented through activities in Kelab Sejahtera throughtout the year.

Students: Leadership of the students (also known as the club members) will be seen through how the students conduct the project and managing the organisation of the club. The students also will be given opportunities and empowerment to conduct their projects and activities among the club members time by time, where at the same time RCE Penang will monitor and asses them. While at the end of the project, as they passed the school and university, we are expected that the student have a sustainable mindset; where they have capabilities to make decisions, enforce laws and educate surrounding community in a sustainable manner, never like before.

2) ESD: Education for Sustainable Development concept ESD is the main mechanism of the inputs in Kelab Sejahtera education through multiple levels of stakeholders and educational institutions. The interaction with the school teachers and students also will be done in both ways (RCE Penang-schools and schools-RCE Penang).

3) Sejahtera Concept. Schools are encouraged to work with students on specific projects and activities in five thematic areas, using learning and teaching strategies and pedagogies aligned with ESD. The thematic areas are as follows 1. Environment 2. Healthy life style 3. Community 4. Economy 5. Culture and heritage

The initiative was launched in 30th May 2014 with full support from the Penang State Education Department and RCE Penang stakeholders. The initiative will officially start in January 2015 with seven pioneering schools from Penang that will attend a series of capacity development trainings and opportunities and working closely with RCE Penang to develop their own clubs and co-curricular activities. The aim is that more schools join the initiative over the years, creating a network of schools in Penang that can share experiences, challenges and lessons learned in engaging school students in creating sustainable futures.