PENAMPANG: Some 30 Year 1 students from two primary schools here received certificates of completion of learning the Kadazan Language in the Pilot Project (Projek Rintis) organised by the Sabah Ethnic Language Association (Sela) at the Pacost Trust Hall Saturday.
The 15 students from SK Kibabaig and another 15 from SK Sugud completed the Tangaa language learning session, which is a dialect spoken by the Kadazan people of Penampang.
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These selected students are involved in the 12-week Kadazan ethnic language class pilot project which began on August until November 2025, organised by Sela.
The class was held in the respective schools.
Sela Advisor Datuk Philip Benedict Lasimbang said the Kadazan Ethnic Language Pilot Class Project is an excellent platform to promote and preserve the Kadazan language used by the people of Penampang.
“It is also a platform to introduce our cultural and traditional richness to the younger generation.
“I am confident this project will benefit the community and serve as a benchmark for other ethnic language projects in Sabah,” he said at the closing ceremony of the pilot project here.
The ceremony was enlivened by a singing and dancing performance by 30 students who sang Kadazan songs, a video screening of the pilot class and a sharing session between parents and students.
The other three ethnic languages selected for this first pilot project are the Timugon, Lotud and Tatana ethnicities which were held in the language-speaking districts.
These four ethnic languages were chosen as the focus of Sela which was established in 2024.
Philip wanted to invite all members of the Kadazandusun and Murut clan to continue to work together to preserve and promote their respective ethnic languages and introduce their unique cultural to the world.
He said he work process and actions taken by Sela since it was established in 2024 require cooperation through the concept of ‘mitatabang’ or working together to make the project a success.
Although it has only been a year, he is happy to see the implementation of this project which involves many parties including teachers, participants and volunteers who have worked hard to ensure its success.
He said that in the future this Pilot Project would not only be held in schools but any organization and in villages can also request that this Kadazan language class be held there.
“I call on all members of our community to carry out ‘mitatabang’ activities in preserving and promoting the Kadazan language, as well as introducing cultural wealth to the world to ensure the sustainability of our language and culture.
Philip, who is also the former chairman of Yayasan Bank Rakyat (YBR), shared his efforts with the YBR management to help develop ethnic languages in Sabah through YBR’s financial sponsorship.
“YBR has provided a financial contribution of RM400 thousand to cover the expenses of implementing various training programs, preparing modules and curricula for teaching ethnic languages in Sabah.
“YBR has also allocated a sponsorship of RM7.5 million to Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris to start ethnic language studies at UPSI as an effort to increase the prestige of the ethnic language of Sabah in this country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sela Chairman Monih Epin said that Sela members, who consist of various individuals with expertise in various fields, are always ready to establish strategic collaborations.
“I appreciate all the teachers involved in the project led by Bernadette Peter Lidadun as well as the researchers and parents of the participants.
