Interview With Dr. David Yap, Co-founder And CEO Of YELAOSHR Education Group

Twenty years ago, Dr. David Yap and his wife, Dr, Carol Yap founded YELAOSHR, which grew from one outlet to 70 outlets. YELAOSHR is renowned as a prominent figure in Malaysia’s early childhood education sector. YELAOSHR is committed to crafting personalized learning journeys that foster autonomous learning and build confidence in children. Through their specialized programs, they aim to instill a love for self-directed learning, ensuring children grow confidently and make a lifelong positive impact, preparing them for a successful future.

YELAOSHR focuses on enhancing children’s literacy skills while maintaining an efficient and enriching learning experience through their 90-minute lessons that combine two subjects. Their team of educators closely monitors children’s learning progress and attention, ensuring they receive necessary mental recovery during ‘charging time. They employ a ‘little and often’ review strategy and appropriate cognitive activation periods to help children transfer newly learned content from short-term to long-term memory, avoiding passive and monotonous learning approaches. This is not only a distinctive feature of our teaching but also aligns with the globally recognized Finnish education model.

In conjunction with their 20th Anniversary, YELAOSHR is taking a bold step into the future of education with a strategic partnership that promises to redefine learning for the 21st century. YELAOSHR has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Techies App Technologies Sdn. Bhd., a leader in digital education solutions, as part of its continued commitment to innovation. 

This collaboration marks a significant milestone in YELAOSHR’s mission to empower educators and students by integrating advanced technologies into the classroom, from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Big Data, paving the way for a smarter, more connected learning ecosystem.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, YELAOSHR’s flagship program, ‘From Educator to Edupreneur,’ has been selected for the prestigious HundrED Global Collection 2025, and at their Gala Dinner on 18th January 2025 honored the achievements of educators across Malaysia.

During their Gala Dinner, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. David Yap, CEO of YELAOSHR Education Group.

What is the history of YELAOSHR?

Dr. David Yap: YELAOSHR was founded in 2005. I was in the business of wholesale distribution of PC hardware and failed twice. I asked myself why I had failed. It could be feng shui or astrology. I checked but found no problems with my “Ba Zi”. In 2004, my wife (Dr. Carol Yap) had just given birth to our 3rd child and was taking care of our baby son. She thought we should venture into education. She’s a fast learner and passionate about education. After she researched and read books on education, we started the business on a small scale. My wife has a good heart, with no temper. She started empowering kids from our first outlet in Sri Petaling. Parents were impressed and satisfied with our teaching methods through storytelling and flash cards. That’s how we started with a focus on literacy foundation.

How did you expand to 70 outlets?

Dr. David Yap: We have a business model of empowering yourself, to get others in a good shape and therefore be empowered. My wife is a giver and not calculating. Some of the teachers who have just graduated have no financial support, their parents may be hawkers. We empower them to be entrepreneurs.

Tell us about YELAOSHR’s participation in the HundrED Education Innovation Summit 2024 in Finland.

Dr. David Yap: This was held for three days from Nov 12 in Helsinki, whereby the summit showcased groundbreaking education initiatives, including Dr. Carol Yap’s transformative “From Educator to Edupreneur” programme. The programme empowers teachers to become entrepreneurs, earning a spot in the prestigious HundrED Global Collection 2025 for its scalability and impact in reshaping education.

YELAOSHR has an Education College established in 2019?

Dr. David Yap: The Education College trains and assesses teachers so they can take the initiative to build a learning system. The starting point of everything came from the need to empower more children. In order to achieve this aspiration, a group of teachers who has the vision, mission and values is needed. We have also just obtained approval for a TVET Collage from the Ministry of Human Resources. YELAOSHR teachers can teach in Australia, UK or Singapore. Their qualifications are very precious as it is recognised in their migration application. Teachers are highly respected in Western countries and as such, when they graduate from YELAOSHR Education College, their qualifications are very valuable.

At YELAOSHR, the recommended learning time for students who take 2 subjects is 90 minutes?

Dr. David Yap: Children have a 45-minute attention span. At YelaoShr, we are committed to enhancing children’s literacy skills while maintaining an efficient and enriching learning experience through our 90-minute lessons that combine two subjects. Our team of educators closely monitors children’s learning progress and attention, ensuring they receive necessary mental recovery during ‘charging time.’ We employ a ‘little and often’ review strategy and appropriate cognitive activation periods to help children transfer newly learned content from short-term to long-term memory, avoiding passive and monotonous learning approaches. This is not only a distinctive feature of our teaching but also aligns with the globally recognized Finnish education model.

Recognizing the limited duration of children’s attention spans, we ingeniously integrate learning with cognitive activation in our curriculum design, ensuring that children remain fully engaged and energized. In YelaoShr’s ‘charging zone,’ children can reinforce their literacy skills by reading picture books or using the XiaoYe digital learning system while enjoying the pleasures of learning.

90 minutes is a short and effective time to learn 2 subjects such as Mandarin & Malay. We don’t do rote learning or drill the kids into learning but rather we bond with the kids first, coach them and stimulate their interest in learning. We can go at a fast or slow pace of teaching according to the kids’ abilities.

In YELAOSHR’s website, it’s started that YELAOSHR is the go-to centre for kids who can’t read, have limited vocabulary, have unsatisfactory academic performance, have no interest in reading or have slow learning progress. What does YELAOSHR provide for such kids?

Dr. David Yap: We provide a foundation for kids who were not able to catch up in tuition class and stuck at a certain level.

For the group classes, what is the average size of the class (how many kids in each group)?

Dr. David Yap: 20 pax on average. If there are more kids, we increase manpower.

How do you publicise YELAOSHR?

Dr. David Yap: Through aggressive marketing, e.g. via Facebook but we also have mums sharing. We provide the quality and receive referrals.

How do you receive feedback from 70 centres?

Dr. David Yap: We have a centralised automation system. Our 70 branches will give feedback. We provide annual training and read teachers’ chats. We discuss the most creative ways to teach and integrate and reshape accordingly. We improvise and improve – it’s a dual process with the teachers.

What are YELAOSHR’s future plans for expansion?

Dr. David Yap: Our franchise license has just been approved. We want to empower people, especially from the Maly community, to be their own boss. Our salary to teachers is more than the market price. Our “From Educator to Edupreneur” programme aims to allow teachers to own their centres.

What challenges has YELAOSHR faced particularly during the Covid Lockdown in March 2020?

Dr. David Yap: When Malaysia had its 1st lockdown on March 18, 2020, I had a strong sense that we would be locked down like China. A contact suggested that we use the Zoom App for online education. On March 20, 2020 we went online when other market players were still considering. A responsible/capable operator must identify pressing challenges and be able to survive. We did promotions like offering discounts and sought the understanding of our customers. We aggressively converted teaching materials into Powerpoint/PDF. We have to seek the best solutions given challenging circumstances.

How many students in total have been at your centres since 2005?

Dr. David Yap: We have taught 100,000 students since 2005. The age group is between 3 to 12 years old. We cover pre=schoolers to primary school students.

Juniper

City slicker, prolific blogger and food lover who loves to review products and food & everything else in between.

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