Doug Wilson, TI Melaka's managing director, presents book donations to Melaka State Secondary School representatives.

TI collaborated with The Asia Foundation's Books for Asia (BFA) program this year to distribute 5,000 new books to all secondary schools in the state of Melaka, Malaysia, and an additional 7,000 in the rest of the country.

TI, which has operated a major facility in Kuala Lumpur for more than 40 years, recently expanded operations to Melaka, through its acquisition of National Semiconductor last year.

"At TI, we believe that that supporting education today is critical to the success of our company and our communities tomorrow," said Doug Wilson, TI Melaka's managing director.

"By ensuring students have access to excellent materials and effective teaching we can help them excel in all subjects."

Through the grant from TI, the new books were distributed to schools at a ceremony last month at the Melaka state Bahagian Teknologi Pendidikan offices.

Representatives from the Melaka State Ministry of Education, The Asia Foundation, and TI Melaka participate in a book donation ceremony benefiting all 78 secondary schools in the state of Melaka.

Focus on STEM
The donated books were geared toward specific reading levels and focused on subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) textbooks suitable for secondary school students.

Representatives from all secondary schools in the state attended the ceremony to receive their book donations. Officials from the Ministry of Education for the State of Melaka and executives from TI and the Asia Foundation also participated in the event.

"We look forward to working together with the Asia Foundation and the Melaka State Ministry of Education to continue this work of encouraging strong literacy, science and math skills for all students in Melaka," Wilson said.

In addition to the book donation, a portion of the grant will be used to help a select few schools in Melaka refurbish their school libraries.

Also part of the program will be an essay writing competition for Melaka schools in which the winning school will receive additional donations from the BFA program.

The Asia Foundation BFA program puts 1 million new books — from children's books to higher education reference materials — into the hands of students, educators, and local and national leaders across Asia every year.

In Malaysia, the BFA program has been the longest running program of the Foundation and annually brings as many as 30,000 new books into the country with a direct shipment now going to the state of Sabah.

These books are distributed across the country with the aim of reaching the neediest schools and institutions in the country.