David Chak Shan Chun

Co-founder and Director Arus Academy

David Chak is a Malaysian educator and social entrepreneur dedicated to revolutionizing education. He is the co-founder and curriculum director of Arus Academy, a social enterprise that has impacted over 150,000 students and 100,000 teachers in Malaysia since 2015. Arus Academy focuses on building relevant skills in coding, STEM, digital and financial literacy, media literacy, global citizenship and socio-emotional learning.

A former Teach for Malaysia fellow, Chak co-founded Arus Academy with a mission to address educational inequity after his experience teaching at a high-needs public school. He is a strong advocate for media literacy education, championing its importance even before the ushering of the age of AI and deepfakes. He believes media literacy extends beyond just spotting fake news, but also about understanding the motives behind a message and its potential to influence beliefs, as well as mitigating or minimizing its effects on our wellbeing both physical and socioemotionally. 

Chak's work extends beyond Arus Academy. He co-authored the Malaysian Year 5 Digital Technology textbook and writes on global issues and media literacy for a local Chinese quarterly magazine. His expertise is further enriched by several prestigious fellowships: the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Professional Fellowship, the Acumen Fellowship, and the Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship at Vanderbilt University. He also serves on the advisory council for the Asian Network of News and Information Literacy Educators.

Chak holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in Computer Science from McGill University in Canada and a postgraduate diploma in education from the Northern University of Malaysia. He is often invited to speak and mentor on topics ranging from education and leadership to digital transformation and entrepreneurship.