Now, he is at it again, trying to ensure all pupils in his new school, SJK (T) Bayan Lepas, have enough laptops and internet connection to study online.

In 2019, his efforts to train pupils to plant and sell their produce to pay for the cost of running the school and also eliminate the use of single-use plastics, won the praise of the education ministry.

The school was touted as a model “eco” school for others, especially as it complied with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Now, one year after taking over at the helm of SJK (T) Bayan Lepas, Sangga has implemented the same concept at his new school.

However, his more immediate problem is getting his 130 pupils to have access to online learning classes following the implementation of the movement control order (MCO).

To achieve this, he raised money by selling 1,500 reusable cotton bags. Within a week from Jan 30, the school managed to raise RM24,000 from the sale of 1,000 bags at RM10 each and from donations.

With that money, he was able to order 40 tablets from Samsung at RM529 each, with a 15% discount.

“Before this, we made do with 40 netbooks, which we had to share among students. However, these small laptops were too slow and half of them were not in proper working order.

“Most of the students were using their parents’ mobile phones, which was difficult. So we had to come up with a way to resolve this.

“We are thankful to the generous donors who came forward to help us in these trying times,” he told FMT.

Sangga said the school, via the parent-teacher association (PIBG), then ordered more reusable cotton bags to be sold, so as to raise funds to buy more tablets and pay for internet data plans for needy students.

The bags are made in Chennai, India by a charity organisation.

Those interested can make a donation to the PIBG’s CIMB Bank account – 80-0387729-3 – or contact Sangga at 019-449-4914.