Since 2001, UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd (UMWT) has been running the Toyota Eco Youth (TEY) programme which is a joint effort by UMWT and the Ministry of Education to cultivate environmental awareness and encourage respect for the environment among youth in secondary schools.

TEY is a major component of UMW Toyota Motor’s annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, one of the three Corporate Social Responsibility pillars encompassing the environment, road safety and philanthropy. 

Today, the company officially launched the 2008 with a revised format which takes into account the experiences from earlier events and incorporates improvements.

This year, the number of schools participating has increased to sixteen with the addition of a school from Putrajaya. At the same time, the selection process was further improved to ensure a better demographic of selectee. With the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, each state was invited to nominate 10 schools to be considered for selection. To ensure fair representation, the schools nominated also came from the urban, rural, technical and fully-residential schools. In this way, the net was cast wider and UMWT was given more choice of for its selection of schools to participate.

This year too, participating schools will be given a space on the Toyota Eco Youth website for their project. The students can write about and update the status of their project on the website. This new approach will enable UMWT to view the progress made by the participating teams, instead of just relying on their written reports.

“Even though the programme was conceptualised to create awareness among our youth, our contribution to generate such awareness does not stop there. Through this programme, we are also teaching them the Problem-solving method utilised by Toyota employees all over the world. At the same time, students participating in the programme are exposed to the continuous improvement (KAIZEN) work system which they can apply to their daily life and future undertakings,” said Kuah Kock Heng, Managing Director of UMWT.

The overall Prizes range from RM10,000 for the First Prize to RM1,000 for the Fifth Prize and there are also Category Prizes of RM2,000 each, as well as a gift bag worth RM 200 for all winners.