PULAU KETAM, Nov 9 – The Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in collaboration with the Civil Engineering Student Club (CESC) and the non-governmental organisation, Kengkawan Project has organised the Programme of Integrating Engineering and Nature (i-Kalam) at Mandarin Tahfiz Academy (ATM), Pulau Ketam, Klang.
The programme involved 70 participants from the students of Mandarin Tahfiz Academy, Pulau Ketam, UPM lecturers and students, and the non-governmental organisation and industry.
The programme aimed to bring the university and the community closer and to provide useful knowledge to the community.
ATM was chosen for this first-time programme because it is an institution with a new concept in the world of education by combining Tahfiz Al-Quran studies and Mandarin in one syllabus.
Uniquely, ATM is the only Tahfiz school which was built in the community area made up of 99% Chinese people.
The programme provided exposure to students on a few sub-topics of civil engineering such as Structural Earthquake Engineering and Water Engineering. The students had the opportunity to relate those fields with the Al-Quran and hadis.
The students also had the opportunity to be innovative in solving problems related to engineering in the programme. The students were impressed when they were able to create and test the building model to create the rainwater collection system and the earthquake-resistant system.
The programme was joined by 37 tahfiz students, managed by five lecturers from the Faculty of Engineering, and led by Dr. Izian Abd Karim, the i-Kalam programme director, and 10 CESC students as the programme facilitators, led by Mohamad Razeen Iqbal Roslan.
The programme received full support from the industries such as K-Spatial Sdn. Bhd. and Zam Technology Sdn Bhd.
Even though ATM students did not follow the mainstream syllabus, they should not be excluded from science, technology and engineering.
The interest of the students towards engineering should be cultivated to enable the country to have a younger generation who are not only good in Al-Quran and As-Sunnah, but also excel in the field of engineering, science and technology.
It is hoped that this programme is able to give inspiration to ATM students to further their studies in the university in the future. - UPM
