Maxis in collaboration with the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC) of the Ministry of Education Malaysia once again brings back Maxis eKelas HIPMaX StoryFest, an annual English Language theatre and storytelling competition open to all Year 4 to Form 5 Malaysian students. 

With over 100,000 registered users and growing, Maxis eKelas is an after-school digital learning initiative available for free to all Malaysian students. The theme of this year’s HIPMaX StoryFest competition is “Celebrating Malaysian Folklore” which provides students with the opportunity to reenact and adapt their favourite Malaysian folklores through creative storytelling and theatre productions. 

Students are given the freedom to explore and discover our country’s local folklore stories and values; and then retell these stories in their own way. The competition encourages students to practice their communication skills and internalise good values through fun and creative activities.

Happening for the sixth year running, this year’s competition is organised by Maxis together with ELTC to inspire students to discover their heritage as well as share Malaysia’s folklore stories with the world.

“At Maxis, we believe that education is the key to changing lives for the better. While eKelas offers online access to quality education content aligned with the Malaysian school syllabus, its related competition like HIPMaX Storyfest adds a practical and expressive dimension to our overall eKelas experience,” said Mariam Bevi Batcha, Maxis Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. 

Maxis will conduct live workshops in 50 schools nationwide in collaboration with ELTC and various state education offices. The first workshop was conducted recently in SMK Saujana Indah, Pulau Pinang involving 130 students.

In addition, Maxis will also be organising eight virtual workshops via the eKelas learning platform to support students to prepare and improve their submissions. The workshops will cover topics to upskill students with techniques to unpack folklore, write compelling scripts, act with confidence, and direct a theatre production. 

To ensure inclusivity, this year’s competition is open to all Malaysian students from Year 4 to Form 5 who can choose to participate in the individual Storytelling category or participate in groups of between four to five members in the Theatre category. All participants will receive co-curriculum marks or Pentaksiran Aktiviti Jasmani Sukan dan Kokurikulum (PAJSK) credits, while the winners stand a chance to secure attractive prizes.

The HIPMaX StoryFest competition is open till 31 July 2024. To sign up for eKelas and to learn more about the competition and how to participate, visit ekelas.com.my/HIP2024. 

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