Malaysia’s first elearning platform aims to upskill 300 million Malay speakers

Ruang Cikgu has become Malaysia’s first accredited e-learning platform that provides Malay speakers the opportunity to upskill themselves through the internet.

From lessons on entrepreneurship to cooking, online marketing, the lessons on the platform are growing by the day.

According to its cofounder, Latt Omar, the platform was founded in 2019, way before the coronavirus pandemic happened. But what inspired its creation was the language barrier when it comes to learning online.

“Essentially, my family and I have been serial online learners for a long time. Nothing beats the ease and convenience of just thinking about what we want to learn and Googling a search,” Omar tells Mashable Southeast Asia.

“There were many serious instructional knowledge providers in English but there were none in Malay and we wanted to fill this gap,” he said, adding that the platform aims to diminish the opportunity gap of education due to the language barrier for 300 million of its speakers in the region.

Very quickly, since its inception, the platform has evolved to focus on providing services to aspiring entrepreneurs, helping them kick start their business.

Besides educational videos, Ruang Cikgu – which is Malay for “Teacher’s Space” – also offers packages for entrepreneurs who are starting out which includes advice on key business decisions as well as guidance on how to begin.

“We specifically focus on upskilling or reskilling and entrepreneurship rather than having classes where everything is being taught by just anyone. Our educators go through a vetting process first as we only want the best teachers with practical experience on our platform,” Omar revealed.

Industry experts.

Unlike other platforms, Ruang Cikgu is extremely picky on who can go online to teach. Omar explained that educators have to be industry players.

“Meaning they cannot simply teach for the sake of teaching. They need to have experience and we only accept educators with at least two years of industry experience,” he said, adding that proficiency in Malay is an advantage.

“But for those who need support with language, we also provide assistance with their script as the desire to teach and leave an impact must always transcend language.”

Through Ruang Cikgu, which is accredited by Malaysia’s Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), teachers and students are able to monitor their progress through a KPI system.

Positive response.

During the recently imposed Movement Control Order (MCO), the platform’s visitors more than doubled.

“Post MCO, our customers have increased by about 60 percent and this is attributed to the increased awareness on the benefits of online education and the necessity of upskilling or reskilling to combat unemployment. We are steadily gaining attention and are very happy with our progress so far,” Omar said.

Among the milestones, the platform received was a trust-through-grant by The Asia Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, U.S.

“We were also awarded the “Most Creative Platform” by Pusat Prestasi Indonesia supported by its ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises. Most importantly, we are a Malay platform and we have students from all ethnicities. To us, that is our greatest achievement.

Omar and his team now aim to turn Ruang Cikgu into the number one platform aspiring entrepreneurs to equip themselves with the practical knowledge and skills they need to excel and succeed.

“Aside from being the best Malay learning platform for entrepreneurship, we aim to expand to other regions and cater to their native languages in the South East Asian region.”