Malaysia – Astro TVIQ, which aims to make the learning process fun through educational cartoons, dramas, game shows, live action and reality shows has launched a new look. Yasmin Megat, head of education programming at Astro, says that positive feedback from parents, teachers and students prompted a revamp of the channel. With the revamp comes three new time-belts – PlaySchool, CoolSchool and NightSchool. CoolSchool, which airs from 9am to 10pm daily, is for the seven-to-15 age group. It offers an entertaining twist to academic subjects like languages, science and mathematics as well as skills for the real world such as creative thinking and entrepreneurship. PlaySchool runs from 6am to 9am daily and is aimed at children below six years old, while NightSchool airs from 10pm to 6am and offers practical knowledge for grown-ups. The new line-up for the CoolSchool block includes Robbie And The Book Of Tales, Cows N Crayons, The Big Bang and Rakan 3. TVIQ also airs ‘mini lessons’ to encourage learning. The channel’s one-minute lessons ‘Seminit Saja Bersama TVIQ’ (Just A Minute With TVIQ) cover English, Bahasa Malaysia, maths, science and other subjects, screened daily on the hour. Come August, Astro TVIQ will also make key science and maths programmes, available in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
