The new school term has just officially kicked off, and thanks to you and a local retailer, some school children out there have all the essentials they need to become the next Elon Musk.

Reaffirming their commitment to helping out underprivileged school children, Tesco Malaysia brought smiles to the faces of these kids (and their parents!) by delivering over 500 school bags to those in need.

The initiative is part of Tesco Malaysia’s edu-centric corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign called the Beg Terus Senyum (BTS).

The school bags were delivered on 2 January 2020, the first day of the new school term, to students in Tesco’s Adopted Schools which include SK Taman Midah 2, SK Sungai Ara, SK Banggu and many more.



“I am very grateful to be part of the Tesco School Adoption Programme as my students have been able to reap many benefits and the BTS is just one of the many,” said SK Taman Midah 2 headmaster, Mohd Faisal Mohd Salih.

“I am sure that getting the BTS will be one of the sweetest memories that these underprivileged students will have of their schooling years and will be the push they need to perform academically better this year.”

Tesco Malaysia’s Corporate Services Director, Azliza Azmel, said that the BTS initiative is a reaffirmation of the retailer’s commitment to helping underprivileged school children from the Bottom 40 (B40) families through its network of 63 Adopted Schools.

“At Tesco, we strongly believe in positively impacting the communities we operate in and every cent that we have put into our School Adoption Programme, is an investment towards our children and our country’s future,” she was quoted as saying.



Price at just RM50 (well, the actual price is RM52.80, but the good people at Tesco Malaysia absorbed the price difference), kids will find the basic back-to-school needs such as a drawing block, an A4 exercise book, semi gel pens, mechanical pencils, 0.5 pencil leads, soft erasers, F5 exercise book, a highlighter, scissors and of course, a school bag.

If you purchased a Beg Terus Senyum during Tesco Malaysia’s campaign period last year, well done; you’ve just helped out an underprivileged family.

Partnering up for charity

Not just that, Tesco Malaysia has also worked together with their long-term partner and supplier Unilever Malaysia for the Tesco-Unilever Back to School Fund.

According to Tesco Malaysia, the fund raised more than RM100,000 through customers’ purchases of Unilever products in Tesco from 21 November to 4 Dec 2019.

For every purchase of RM35 of any Unilever products during campaign period, RM1 was contributed to this fund.



And thanks to your help, some 600 students across 33 Tesco Adopted Schools were given Tesco-Unilever Back to School Fund vouchers amounting to RM150 each, for them to shop for back-to-school necessities which included school uniforms, school shoes, writing utensils and more.

Give yourself a pat on the back, guys!

Always lending a helping hand

Since Tesco Malaysia launched their Tesco School Adoption Programme in partnership with the PINTAR Foundation three years ago, the retailer has adopted 63 underserved schools, amounting to 57,000 students within the vicinity of its stores, distribution centres and Head Office.

Some of the schools Tesco has adopted so far are SMK Kepong, SK Taman Midah 2, SK Seksyen 17, SK Seksyen 20, SK Pengkalan Pegoh, SK Sungai Ara, SK Mergong, SK Banggu, SK Methodist ACS Seremban, SJKT Melaka and SK Taman Rinting 1.

In fact, Tesco Malaysia has invested more than RM4.5 million in the programme, ensuring that underprivileged school children will have the supply they need to excel in school.