With a Sigh ( Pt 16 ) – Endless journey to World-Class

I cannot help heaving a heavy sigh every time I read the catch word ‘world-class’ related to Malaysian education. We read and hear how we establish schools, colleges, universities and all at nothing less than of world-class. But when our universities slipped in position to below 200 world ranking, we would rather claim that the yardstick was not suitable to be used to assess our education - the great ‘world-class’ of our own.

The standard of English has deteriorated so badly that we had to import Americans, Australians, Indians and all – and yet here in this country are still thousands of experienced teachers who made the standard of English among Malaysians admired and envied by many countries, and who are prepared to return to class-rooms to lend a hand today, if only they are being approached. Of course most of them do not have Masters, let alone PhD’s. Many were awarded simple Diplomas but with knowledge and experience enough to teach our new PhD holders.  

On 17^th August I found something of interest to read in NST. “Towards world-class and quality education” ran the heading. It talked about the nation’s education system which “will continue to experience transformation for the next 13 (thirteen) years through the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 …..” I wonder if this ‘blue print’ is closely akin to the very familiar ‘road-map’ in the Middle-East conflict with road designed by the super powers to end up in the arid desert sand. So I said “Ha, Ha !” instead to suppress my heavy sigh.    

____________________  

Two days earlier NST, in its SPOTLIGHT, carried the story of Victoria Institution, the oldest school which celebrated its 120^th anniversary.

Often referred to as VI, this school nearly had its name changed, once to Sekolah Menengah Victoria and on the second time to Sekolah Menengah Jalan Hang Tuah. Many would probably question the resistance to change. Why should we continue to keep the name which, after all, commemorated the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria ?  How could we try to make Malaysians imbibe loyalty to Malaysia as long as we keep them reminded of our humble days? To make us truly Malaysians, if need be, we must remove traces that remind us of colonial days to reflect our current world-class stature.  We have done many changes, the likes of Batu Road, Jalan Mountbatten, Telok Anson, Port Swettenham, Jesselton and so on !

Because VI has managed to maintain a lot of its traditional ‘Britishness’, it is today, probably, one school in our country unequalled in its all-roundedness, from academic to discipline, games and all. Given that small autonomy, the Principle and members of staff have continued to uphold the school’s dignified performance and achievement in many fields. The school does not take pride in all A’s. No, but it is among the best in many areas, the boy Scouts, school football team, societies etc. It is a Malaysian school that can claim to be a world champion school band. Its alumni consist of many notables, not to mention Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the five top richest men in Malayisa, ministers, sportsmen, and if I may also rope in Awang Goneng ( lawyer, journalist and author of the bestseller AMap of  Terengganu of Trengganu ) who makes his occasional appearance here.

_________________________ 

Personally it is my regret that I failed to get into this prestigious school to do  my Higher School Certificate ( the present STPM) way back in 1956 and, instead, had to be satisfied with SJI ( St John’s Institution ), a close rival of VI’. So I failed to have my name in ‘also there’ league of ex VI. Fortunately I can breathe easy because, today, in some devious way I have a link to that school. I will save this story for one of my future entries. So, despite all these, I can still draw a sigh of relief.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk Kemanusiaan

With a sigh (Pt 11 ) - Atlas, what is it?

Ask me, “What’s an atlas ?”

I will start with a book of maps showing position of countries, towns, seas and mountains etc. School children can answer that equally well.

A world atlas

“What else?”

I would go back to my childhood days when, like children of those days, I was interested in old folk lore like Pak Pandir, Hang Tuah etc. Then of course I would imagine the mighty Atlas of the Greek mythology holding the earth on his back.

The might Atlas

“What else?”

Now I have to scratch my head thinking hard of my old geography lesson when I learnt all about the prominent ranges of Alps, the Himalayas, the Andes etc. And among them stands Atlas Mountains stretching across North Africa.

“What else?”

Now you catch me. I am sorry. I cannot think of any more, unless you mean AlAttas.

“My goodness. You don’t have to go to school to know what Atlas is!”

---------------------------------

I was then doing English with my Form TWO pupils when something made me ask them what ‘atlas’ was when a line in the book we were reading read, “ …… bought me an atlas ….” I was glad to have asked them that question. a stupid question, perhaps. About twenty blank faces looked at one another, a few shaking their heads. I just stood there with disbelief. Then a boy mastered the courage to suggest,

“Kain pelikat, Pakcik!”

Indeed ‘Atlas’ was a popular brand of man’s cloth (kain pelikat) at that time. Everyone in the village knows that. How silly I was.

Pelikat Atlas

That old man standing in front of the class could only draw a sigh to realise how out-dated and silly he was. To him was kain pelikat 'cap gajah benang seribu', nothing but the best of his time.

Berkhidmt kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

With a Sigh (Pt. 11) - A Class for Three

Flashback - A year ago, on 15.12.2010 my posting went like this:

"With a sigh ( Pt 4 ) – Do I carry on or call it a day?

“O, no, … only NINE ….?” cried my first little thought when I stepped into my class at Almanar one day last week. Rising to their feet to greet me were just nine pupils, ALL GIRLS. What has become of all the boys?.... “

_____________________________

Indeed, Pakcik went through a very disappointing time and questioned whether or not to call it a day. A few reasons contribute to the dwindling number of children attending Almanar. I was truly depressed at the situation then. Somehow, nothing short of providence brought fresh light into the gloom. A house for children of poor families and orphans was opened one kilometer away from Almanar, calling for help from Almanar to tutor about 80 children from Form 1 to Form 4. This god-send fresh mission was most welcome, albeit a fresh challenge never thought of previously; the majority are of very poor quality, academically and in attitude towards learning.

How the Form 3 children of this group fared in the recent PMR is not yet known to us as these children are away on holidays. But we are certain of very poor results for a start. We will soon know.

In the meantime we have not closed our door to other children in the community. This morning was supposed to be the first day for new Form 1 pupils to join Almanar class. Against the previous high figure of up to forty, we had THREE pupils, a boy and two girls!

The class of THREE

But we are past being deterred from pushing ahead. I remember Mr Micawber, a character in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, one of the text books for Form 4 English Literature in 1954. This eternal optimist believes that "something will turn up".

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

With a Sigh (Pt 10) - Toil and Trouble

“Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Macbeth

_________________

I have often sighed with despair watching children who, for their poor performance, are grouped into the end of the class. A large secondary school within my vicinity may have as many as ten classes of about thirty-five pupils each. I do not blame schools for placing the better pupils together. They are the likely children to give the schools a place in the honoured list when the PMR and SPM results are released. But I do blame the school principles who put up pressure on teachers to maximise number of excellent results, at the expanse of the pupils who are being grouped and neglected as ‘no-hopers’. We do not do that to our children. Likewise we are duty bound to help these children if we take pride pride in being teachers, and earn our livelihood at that.

In a large primary school in certain rural areas many children come from very poor background. They never see kindergartens. Their only hope is to learn something from schools the moment they join Standard One at seven years old. The seemingly total efforts of this state, in maintaining at all costs the record of UPSR results, often leave the needy children behind. And the situation goes on for six years at the end of which the poorer children hardly learn anything. Instead, they have sadly acquired all the bad habits within the years. I have a girl of thirteen with all E’s in her UPSR who admitted, “ Saya malas Pakcik ( I am lazy).”

For the first time in seventeen years I am now seeing a strange phenomenon; children of poor families and orphans do not only have poor UPSR results but have also acquired bad behaviour. By logic these are the children who should have been given all the helps and motivation in schools. Our zest and demand for record-breaking performance of all A’s at UPSR exam at all costs has this bye-product which many in authority may not wish it to be highlighted.

An now, as the state religious department have picked up children from nooks and corners of the state and put then in one home, I am seeing this phenomenon, the presence of which, people who matter may not wish to recognise. But, for the very first time I have about 80 of these children, from Form One to Four. I have never lost my temper as often as I have of late. It is a combination of anger, helplessness and desperation. You see it all in most of these children, the playfulness, misbehaviour, laziness and stubbornness. Only very few show rays of hope.

Should Pakcik weed out those very difficult ones? No, it is a challenge. Additionally I understand it too well the following two beginning ayats from surah Alma’un:

Surah AlMa'un

107 - 1&2

“Hast thou ever considered (the kind of man) who gives the lie to all moral law? Behold, it is this (kind of man) that thrusts the orphan away.”- according to Muhammad Assad’s interpretation.

I talk to my children and children of Almanar the need to overcome challenges which make better men and women of us; and I shirk a challenge involving the orphans and the poor?

________________________

Two weeks ago I noticed a girl of Form Four struggling to copy notes from her beighbour. Half suspecting the reason I asked her and got the expected answer. “Dia rabun, Pakcik! (She cannot see!) came a chorus of cries from around her. But she was not alone. There were two other girls who had trouble all the years with no apparent help coming. Immediately after class I drove them to an optician. One and half hours later I drove the three girls home, looking shy but with confidence in their new gift of clearer vision. Deep in my heart I regret that this state of mine is very proud of dishing out computers to teachers of Standard Six (to encourage them to better UPSR results!) and children at all levels. And the likes of these poor children suffer the indignity of struggling just to be able to see. Could this be a rare case? There have been other pupils of Almanar requiring that simple and inexpensive gift to enable them to see the board, not something to play cyber-games with or join the face-book community.

Such is life and I can only draw a long sigh.

________________

But I am going to get some small help!

A young lady teaching English at a university close to us is looking forwards to give half a day a week to Almanar. When forewarned of the difficult children she merrily said she would make them sing to her music. She has the equipment to bring along.

A senior lecturer at the Teachers’ Training Institute nearby, who is has a couple of years to retirement, is anxious to find something to usefully fill his time. He specialises in Mathematics. He too will, for a start, contribute half a day a week to Almanar.

Who knows there is a secret floodgate somewhere. We must not despair.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemsnusiaan

P/s:

To a number of teachers who call at my blog, I regret having to express harshly against their profession. There are umpteen dedicated teachers and I certainly have not lost my deep respect for them. It is often the case of 'Seekor kerbau ..... '. At the same time I believe in expressing oneself, giving and receiving criticisms.

With a sigh ( Pt 8b ) – Bring in the clowns

Kotastar left the following comment against my post ‘With a sigh ( Pt 8a )’. The gentleman behind Kotastar, suffice to say a product of the famed Kirkby teachers’ training college, explained briefly how a teacher of his era was trained. Here is what he wrote:

‘Thank you for remembering Kirkby and Brinsford Lodge. Yes they were two teacher training colleges set up for Malaysians overseas. Successful for that period.Don't know if the same experiment will show similar result. Just to enlighten. We started reading the 'Chong Beng' book and ended with almost all editions of Shakespeare and not to mention other literary books the likes of authors Thomas Hardy, Conrad, L. Stevenson and other literary figures. Only then, we were able to speak and write English as it was. Maybe as good as the Queen's English itself. So no short cut, no brief induction courses will push our teachers and students to that height. It took good six /seven years of hard learning, practice AND 2+ years overseas in native English speaking countries to get us to that position.Similarly people like Shahnon Ahmad,Kassim Ahmad ( two Malay writers) English educated with strong command of Malay Language to be active and well known writers. Mind you English Literature and Sastera were two strong subjects in school.

Now?

Next,I attended our PAMKM (Persatuan Alumni Maktab Kirkby Malaysia last Tuesday at KL and surprisingly yr name was mentioned after I brought up your father- in- law's name. Dato Baharudin , Dr Shaari Isa and others know of your activities at AlManar. Our President Tan Sri Yahya too was surprised how an engineer got into such 'predicament' but with success. We referred to your 'kampong' near Tg Malim plus the durian tree.Ha.Ha what a small world. Just to let you know the old Collegians are still 'active' though many have even touch the octogenarian period.We are proud to be able to share your success story. Wishing that the teaching and learning of Malay and English too will find the lights in the tunnel.
Salam to you and 'family' Selamat Berpuasa dan Selamat Menyambut Shawal.”

I am truly humbled by what Kotastar related in the second part of his comment. A few truly learned people talked about Almanar and the person running it. It is praise indeed to be commented in that vein by these people. But my fear is that this may be a case of ‘Indah khabar dari rupa’.

Kotastar, you were not certain whether the ‘experiment’ you underwent to be a teacher in English would still produce good results today. I maintain we need not reinvent the wheel. Our ‘cerdik pandai’ have experimented and failed badly. And now we do not know how and where we have gone wrong that the result has been all but wrong. So now bring in the clowns.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

With a sigh ( Pt 8a ) – Bad English?

Why the bad English?

That was the headline on Sunday. It was followed by another question :
Are teachers incompetent, or school books unsuitable?

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For many years, schools and pupils benefited from teachers who were trained at the two colleges ( not universities of taraf antarabangsa, mind you) in Kirkby and Wolverhampton. Those young men and women returned to Malaya and successfully taught English (Queen’s English) with pride and dedication for many years. Then we became very clever, with graduates and post-graduates, PhD and all coming home from countries like America, England, Australia etc. Every one was clever and had new ideas which had never been thought of by the likes of the lowly diploma holders from the two teachers’ training colleges. And so, the people in position implemented novel ideas. Not long ago a very senior personnel from the Education Department went to a great length to convince me how the centre of learning English had shifted away from the good old England. With humility Pakcik listened to the mini lecture.

Here we are. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

--------------------------

And today we have thousands of teachers who are graduates with first and second degrees, many of which are from our own universities of taraf antarabangsa, no less. The so called English schools in the country would never dream of having such a high percentage of university graduates.

And we will be importing, by hundreds, teachers from America to teach real English at our schools. I have seen two of these English speaking teachers who spent useless couple of years trying to get used to the local culture and feeling distressed for not being totally accepted by local teachers.

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And only last week one of Pakcik’s Form 2 pupils came to relate how her teacher marked as wrong a sentence she wrote – ‘ My home address is in Batu Rakit.’ Apparently the sentence was wrong. It should just read ‘ My home address in Batu Rakit’, the verb ‘is’ should be deleted because the sentence has ‘in’, making ‘is’ unnecessary! Now that is some English. The girl had a good laugh telling me that. Maybe I had taught her the wrong kind of English. The need for finite verbs etc is now obviously out of date.

---------------------------------

Why can’t we do a simple thing like teaching English the way it used to be done? I can only draw a long sigh.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

With a sigh ( Pt 7 b ) – Prebet sapu

Selamat berpuasa kepada pelawat pelawat Muslimin dan Muslimat yang kami berdua hormati

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Finally Almanar has a fair share of orphans and children of poor families. Numbering about 80 and made up of pupils in Form 1, 2, 3 and 4, they belong to the first intakes into the new home, Darul Akhyar (of my earlier post),

In order to assess the level of their knowledge, particularly in English and Mathematics, I have taken it upon myself to conduct all classes and necessitates opening of evening classes for the first time. On me it has been particularly taxing on two counts. Until now I had never considered sacrificing my evening hours, and that I now have. Secondly, as Darul Akhyar would not have its promised transport facility until next week I volunteered to help out, anxious to get on with the classes as early possible.

Watch the picture of that beautiful white multi-purpose vehicle in the picture below. We acquired that last year. Among its many uses we thought of the great opportunity to load the vehicle with fruit when we go to Makcik’s kampong during the next durian season. I could imagine having a stall in front of Almanar selling durians! That is what a fruitful imagination is all about – making money.

----------- Prebet sapu

We never bargained for the vehicle to run as a ‘prebet sapu’ (illegal taxi). But that was exactly what happened for about one month. Do not laugh when I relate a typical day in July.

The last happened for days ago. A group of 27 pupils had to attend class at Almanar at 3.30 that afternoon. In the absence of any help Pakcik did a wonderful job fetching them from Darul Akhyar, a mere one kilometer distance from Almanar. Instead of loading that vehicle with durians I managed to cram into it 9 children of assorted sizes, finely separated between sexes, to travel the short distance from Darul Akhyar to Almanay. In 15 minutes flat I made three trips to transport all the 27 kids. Two hours later I repeated the acts to send the children back.

Then came the evening class. At eight I was at the wheel again also making three trips, this time to shuttle 28 kids of Form 1, one more; that meant ten passengers on one of three trips. Of course at the end of that I had to send them back. How they giggled and laughed and the poor driver shouting hoarse to keep quiet!

To them it was great fun, at the end of which the boys kissing the driver’s hand and the girls thanking Pakcik voluminously – and a couple of them were heard to add, “ I like you Pakcik.”

But the strain of that one month had begun to tell on the driver of the ‘prebet sapu’. Pakcik had to stay in bed for 24 hours, canceling classes for three days! Thankfully that was the last.

============

-------------- Part of Form 1

The new group of Form 1 pupils from Darul Akhyar consists of 28 children, ten of whom are boys. It is so satisfying to me to realise that this group is the 16th group of Form 1 to have joined Almanar over a period of 17 years of its life. It gives me a greater satisfaction to realise that this group of 28 has fourteen orphans and the rest belong to poor families of gardeners, rubber-tappers, broken homes and so on. The same goes with the rest of the 80 kids from Darul Akhyar - orphans and children of the very poor. Helping children such as these was the very objective Almanar trust (private) was established in 1992. Alhamdulillah.

Nevertheless I cannot help drawing sighs of regret to see how poorly these children were treated academically during their six years of primary education. Let us look at the 28 pupils in Form 1. In their UPSR exam at the end of 2010 this group can only boast of 1 A and 2 B grades in English. For the five subjects examined, only one pupil scored 4 A grades, and three pupils scored 3 As each. Nine children achieved only C,D and E grades, and of course, ‘my poor little thing’ can only boast of 5 E’s.


-------- Poor little thing's smile of hope

==============

Sintaicharles, a fairly regular visitor from Sarawak, left the following brief comment against my last posting.

“ Pakcik, I got 3Ds and 2Es in UPSR.”

It is slightly better than Pakcik’s ‘poor little thing’ but definitely worse than some of my new group described above.Yet, today, he is a damned good teacher in English, if I must say so without any reservation. And this man from Sarawak even exhibited an exemplary attitude as an educator. This is reflected in his earlier comment against Pakcik’s posting:

“Nine years ago, out of pity, I taught a very naughty boy how to read and write everyday after school. However, many colleagues insinuated to me that I was an empty vessel trying berlagak pandai mendidik budak yang tiada harapan lulus SPM'.I was hurt by what they said and soon gave up tutoring that boy.
Now, come to think of it, I should have persisted in teaching that boy. I lacked the spirit of Pakcik.”

That is Sintaicharles’s attitude and the general attitude of his colleagues.

To this fine teacher who started from a low beginning, I would like to tell him this:

Perhaps, Sintaicharles, you have now learnt something from what you called ‘the spirit of Pakcik’, a pseudo teacher who has never been taught all about the sophisticated teaching techniques and what ‘exam formats’ are all about. You are one person of my own heart, an example of one who does not believe in the need for a good early start to succeed. It is YOUR SPIRIT, Sintaicharles, that I need to plant in those Melayu punya children. I thank you and I say forget those colleagues of yours. Sadly, after having qualified, attended courses after courses they lack the natural attitude every educator should possess in the first place.
`

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

With a sigh ( Pt 7 a ) - Poor little thing

I scolded her for not showing interest after three classes at Almanar. Let us call her Ani for simplicity. She proved herself lazy. She could not read a simple sentence. She did not know the meaning of simple words like face and cook. She had, a few days earlier written those words in her ‘vocab book’ which Pakcik gave to everyone on the very first day at Almanar. That is how important ‘vocab book’ is at Almanar in learning English – the way all Pakcik’s children were made to keep and learn.

A few harsh words were said and pakcik could see her eyes brimming with tears. She was sensitive, after all. Later I pulled her aside for a few more words.

When the class was over I went over my notes on the children of that special class – special because it was a newly formed class made up of ten orphans and the rest from poor parents. Then the reality began to dawn on me.

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Ani is a girl of thirteen from a town about 150 km from here. A diminutive ‘little thing’ was my first thought of her when I first saw her. When she was a baby, a childless old couple adopted her. Today, Ani has no idea who her real parents are, whether dead or alive. Unfortunately, her foster parents are poor, too, financially and academically. Under such circumstances, she grew up through her first six years of primary education without any help at home. One would, then, quite naturally expect her to acquire something from her six years at her primary school. But what she achieved for her UPSR exam was EEEEE – 5 capital Es for the five subjects ! I am not surprised if her school is in fact one of those which have contributed towards making Terengganu the proud state for being the champion state in achieving AAAAA – 5 capital As – in every UPSR examination during the last several years.

Then I ask myself what had Ani’s primary school administration, the Head, her teachers, the guru ‘motivasi’, the lot of them, including PIBG, ever done for this pathetic-looking ‘little thing’ ? In my mind, had she been abused as a child labour at rolling ‘keropok lekor’, she would have been an expert at it today, able to earn herself and her aged foster parents a few cents a day. But, after six years of primary school education in a champion state this 'poor little thing’ had not learnt her ‘face’ and ‘cook’.

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Two days ago, I approached her again with simple questions. She had got them! And there was the glimpse of a smile on her face; the 'poor little thing’, I thought, had begun to learn something. I have learnt something, too. Now she will be handled with kid’s gloves. But how much can I do it all myself, with limited time allowed and when she has eight subjects to learn at school – plus the ‘wajib’ (compulsory) extra curricular ( koko ) activities imposed by to-day’s education system? It would be a sad thing if she, one day for the entry into a local university ( of the famed taraf antarasa bangsa, of course ), gets EEEEEEEE – all 8 Es - in her SPM despite the full 10% points from her ‘koko’.

With a sigh,
We will try.


Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusia

With a sigh ( Pt 6 ) – of different kind

It saddened me to no end to hear of the UN decision on the no-fly zone involving military actions in Libya, short of ground invasion. I am no political analyst, least of all of world affairs. Perhaps I should rightly be blamed for viewing the scenerio from one narrow perspective – Arab world’s inability to correct itself; and these countries are among the world richest in natural resources! America, France and Britain are the main players. Little is highlighted of the views expressed by Russia and China.

How convenient it is to act hastily just because the Arabs themselves have asked for it!

Have we forgotten that easily the Iraq invasion and the number killed? Have we forgotten that easily the number of Muslim Bosnians slaughtered and the length of time taken before a corrective action was taken? Have we forgotten that easily how many Palestinians have been killed and are continued to be killed? Do we put aside the problems faced by persons with Muslim names applying for visa into America, and how many have been denied? Do we forget that easily how the French made sure the Muslim women do not have the freedom to dress the way the want?

Kita cepat lupa.

Members of Arab League want the Western powers to solve the problem within another Arab country – no matter what it takes because the Muslims themselves have failed!

Once, as a young boy, I was taught a saying of our great Prophet.

The greatest of all prophets drew an analogy of the relationship between a Muslim and another Muslim as a building in which different parts strengthen one another. The All-Knowing chose an Arab to be the greatest prophet and the holy Quran in Arabic. Do we not wonder why?

The long and short of it, we have failed.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

------------------------

P/S:

Nearly twenty years ago I had a first hand story, from a very senior European engineer working in Algeria, of a fantastic unground river project for irrigation purposes. A super power was trying to spin it as a underground atomic project! The hatred for that man in Algeria began long long ago. Orang mengantuk disorong bantal.

With a sigh ( Pt 5 – sec III) – Awang Goneng’s Comments

( C ) Of reading books Vs
---------------------
How right Awang Goneng is. He said ‘hold on tight’
‘They probably don't read a book in a week because of tiredness and minyak Cap Kapak (for the aching limbs)’

I know, by comparison with children in other big towns, how much love for reading is among the children in my part of the country. I look at the library of a club in Kuala Lumpur and marvel at the large number of members’ children busy returning and borrowing books, each with more than one copy in hand. I visit the beautiful library of my famed bandaraya and can only draw my famous sigh at the pathetic scene.

The so-called ‘c-cafés’ are found in all the corners of my neighbourhood. They exist even in the midst of low cost housing estates. There is money to be made and the operators have no qualm over the damage their private enterprise does to the young kids. It is a common sight to see children from primary schools spending whatever little pocket money they have at these places, sometimes during school hours. Here I would like to relate a case involving a young brother of a pupil at Almanar.

One day a Form 2 pupil moaned over his failure to persuade his Form 1 younger brother to attend tuition class at Almanar, being so hooked up on computer games with friends. Whatever few cents he receives every morning from his single mother, who worked as a helper in a teacher’s home to supplement the small monthly allowance from Social and Welfare Department, would be spent on computer games. Not enough, the boy worked part-time helping to do the dishes at a food-stall nearby, just to earn a few ringgits, all for the computer games.

And now this rich state is applauded for having started distributing computers to school children. I would have thought the students at the universities ( of ‘taraf anatara bansa’, no doubt) have greater needs for them.
---------------------
We have three desk tops at Almanar for children to work on. Of late I have to begin tight control over these computers after realising that, among other things, the computers were on to provide ‘music while you work’ - working indeed! Furthermore, seeing the many prohibited items sold at ‘pasar malam’, I fear other uses/misuses of our computers; these are not unlikely hearing what the children have been saying to Pakcik. They are a clever lot on the novel uses of computers and hand-phone with cameras. These young kids are one up on Pakcik on taking pictures and sharing them through friends’ hand-phones. I only know how to operate a less-than-one-hundred ringgit Nokia, which is complicated enough for me. One day a boy confided that he had just received a picture of xxxxx through his hand phone. The subject was a known pupil of the same school! In fact the pleasure of sharing such pictures is common among his friends, girls no exception. I shuddered at the disclosure.

In short, who wants to read books which takes ages to read and understand when a computer can give all the things one needs without having a stack of reference books to page through.
------------------
Of ‘tiredness and minyak cap lapak’, I think ‘minyak cap rimaa’ is better.

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Sebagai akhir kalam, Pakcik would like to apologise if dear readers, especially teachers, do not share the views expressed above.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

With a sigh ( Pt 5 – sec II) – Awang Goneng’s Comments

In this second section, as promised, I will express my personal opinion on three areas contained in Awang Goneng’s newspaper column and the comment he left for Pakcik.


-----------------------


(a) Of methodology

It saddens me whenever I find teachers believing that, firstly, ‘methodology’ is the tool without which teaching is meaningless and, secondly, knowing ‘exam format’ is of necessity to score good results. The business of teaching by old methods and the use of old proven reference and text books are looked upon with disdain. For the lack of these necessities I was once belittled. I relish the thought of relating in brief the occasion I was spoken of as an individual unqualified to teach.

Some time ago a secondary school, headed by a new principle with brilliant ideas, decided to introduce an ‘elite group’ in Form Three. Naturally, the group was made up of the top performers of the previous year’s Form 2 exam. The aim was, of course, the typical number game, to achieve greater number of top scorers in the PMR exam at the end of the year.

Together with their parents, about fifteen pupils with potential to satisfy the thirst for excellent results were called for a special briefing by the principle to mark and publicise the launching of this special 'elite' plan. Among the many steps to be taken for this special group – (never mind the bulk of other Form Three pupils numbering not less than three hundred) – many extra classes and special ‘camps’ would be arranged. It so happened that most of these selected pupils had been attending tuition classes at Almanar steadfastly for two years. Many of them were average performers when, two years earlier, they began their Form One at the school.

During the question time that followed, a father of one of the pupils, the top performer in that group, stood up to make an appeal that, whilst the many extra classes planned for the 'elite' group were appereciated, he hoped that his son and his friends would still have time to continue attending tuition classes at Almanar as they had been doing so for so long. In response to that appeal a senior official of the school proudly declared, in the presence of his boss, that Pakcik of Almanar was nothing more than an x-x-x- , not a qualified teacher by profession, and as such, was unlikely to be familiar with the methodology and exam format required to help pupils perform well in the exam, full stop.

The above father was so disgusted with the derogatory remarks uttered that he decided to call on Pakcik at the end of the day to relate the incident, and to say how sorry he was over the stance shown against Pakcik of Almanar. He was more than convinced that his son with 2A,2B and 1C ( the 'C' was in English) would not have progressed that far over the two years without some help from Almanar. (Incidentally the boy continued to get ‘A’ in English, Maths and Science subjects in his PMR through to SPM.)

------------------

(b) Of extra-mural activities

Of the ‘extra-mural activities’ mentioned by Awang Goneng I have to admit belonging to the old school. My advice to pupils is to enjoy whichever games they like but never at the excessive of their studies. If it is just reading they like, by all means, so be it. But these days one is almost literally forced to take up extr-mural activities under the threat of not getting into a university without the precious 10% points – a must even if one fails in all the academic subjects which account for 90%! Pakcik would probably be a fisherman today as a punishment for getting 0% points in extra-mural activities more than half a century ago when my buddies played soccer bare-footed.


Now let us see what has become of tuition class at Almanar on a sports day.

Yesterday was a record day for Almanar. It was sports day at school and I did not know it. Children were required to attend - or be punished, so I was given to believe. As a result we had a record of ONE pupil who turned up at Almanar for Form 1 tuition class! But that was not all because the one who turned up was a boy, hence another record , 100% male!


Now who is this boy, so brave to absent himself from the school sports?

He is the third, the youngest, of three brothers in a family. His two elder brothers attended Almanar, obtained all the As they wanted in their PMR and SPM exams and are now in universities. And this little brother, in my assessment, has the highest potential of the three. I found it my duty to teach him yesterday and I did it with great pleasure ; he was so much like my own grandchildren. I think, Insya Allah, this boy will perform no less than his two successful elders.
-------------------

To be continued.


Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

With a sigh ( Pt 5 – sec I ) – Awang Goneng’s Comments

In the New Sunday Times of 16th January WAN A HULAIMI, better known as Awang Goneng, wrote ‘What use the newest when the method is flawed?’ copied below:

What use the newest when the method is flawed?
WAN A. HULAIMI
elsewhere@columnist.com

FEYERABEND at Sussex University in 1974 was a physical wreck, but his intellectual vigour remained intact. He walked into the lecture theatre hobbling on a crutch, and wrote three questions on the black board: What's so great about knowledge? What's so great about science? What's so great about truth?
That was classic Feyerabend. Now, just under a month to the seventeenth anniversary of his death, he is still remembered as the man who looked at method and pelted it with fruit, some ironic, some rotten, some soaked in his reductio that reduced them all to absurdum.

In conversation with a friend last week I mentioned someone -- a Malaysian -- whose skills in English language teaching was undisputed but who still remained largely ignored. "He is getting on in years," I said. "Perhaps we should tap his knowledge."

"It'll probably shine a ray of light," I said. "Now that we're wandering in a maze."

We both acknowledged that the person we were talking about had made remarkable strides. "But he may be a bit behind in his method," the friend added. "Methodology", he whispered before we both fell silent, for that was the buzzword.

Feyerabend wasn't against knowledge, or science or truth, however elusive the word. He was a philosopher of science, but when he was ill he turned to the "alternative", and it worked. Is there just one science, one way, one route to human knowledge? Or, apropos my friend, one method?

Looking at the way things are going it is easy to see the bandwagon on the road. People are always excited with this or that, the latest and the one that draws the crowd. And even that will soon fall by the wayside when a knight donning a new shining methodology comes a-riding down the road. We often forget that the business of teaching is to teach. Look at all those gleaming computers now in schools, and the Wi-Fi criss-crossing invisibly overhead. In some schools in Britain the teachers get less funding if they resist; and yet there's the Rudolf Steiner schools that refuse to have any of those newfangled gadgets and they are none the worse for that. They are probably able to know as much about Socrates as their counterparts, even if they may be lagging behind in the Facebook.

To be fair to my friend, he wasn't hitching a ride on the bandwagon but was merely stating a fact, that people can be awed by methods at the expense of results, even if it is proven again and again that old methods do work. We can have a pluralism, Feyerabend seemed to believe, even in days when he himself was clinging on to method.

In education or medicine, the dominant science dictates. The tyranny of orthodox medicine -- known pejoratively to its opponents as allopathy -- means that alternative remedies with different paradigms are attacked. There is a general disdain of learning by rote, but learning by rote carries subtle effects that cannot be measured by immediate results in terms of how the mind is shaped, how language is unconsciously absorbed. There are advantages too of course from the questioning method and the analysis of truths, so Feyerabend I guess would have set them both to the work.

"(Science) is one of the many forms of thought that have been developed by man, and not necessarily the best. It is conspicuous, noisy, and impudent, but it is inherently superior only for those who have already decided in favour of a certain ideology, or who have accepted it without ever having examined its advantages and its limits," he said in his book Against Method.

There is the danger of course in thinking that the scientific establishment, now or in the past, is neutral, and the danger of following blindly the mainstream of ideas because it is fashionable is all too obvious. Even Feyerabend's way that rejected method in favour of pluralism may be fraught, for he himself, when bemused by the criticisms of his disdain of method, said that people had failed to see the irony and the playfulness in his work. Still, it was a jolt, and a brutal reminder of how much we are taken in by the mainstream without even stopping to realise that sometimes the show, in Feyerabend's words, "has been rigged".

There are old ways and new methods. Each, as my friend the old English teacher would say, should be judged by results. For his part he has his lifetime's work to prove his worth, not bad for a man who was illiterate until he was about fifteen. He may be lagging behind as far as modern methodology is concerned, and this word came about when we were discussing English language teaching in Malaysia.

We are having problems now as we can all see and read. Our students are failing to articulate, our diplomats are at a loss for words and our teachers are using textbooks that are flawed. We are, forever, looking at what's new in the methodology, but what if the madness itself is in the method

-----------------------------------

Pakcik read the article with interest because in a professional way he touched on a subject which would not be possible for me to express as well. Had he written it in his popular blog ‘Kecek-Kecek’ I would have left my comments there and then. That not being the case I had what he had written copied for keep in my laptop, never expecting to have a chance to comment until I read the following comment he left on my last posting ( Is it the end of the tunnel ).

“Perhaps you should extend your horizon and take people outside your catchment area too if they want to come.

Children are loaded with extra-mural activities nowadays, from navel-gazing to marching around with fake arms (wooden guns I mean).. There are more children at school so there should be more demand for coaching.

And do I hear that some schools are suspicious of outsiders who are interested in teaching for nothing?

Hold on tight, use the free time to watch the coconut trees grow or paint dry or to listen to the kampung folk doing the ratib awor. Or you yourself can do the marhaban, after all, you have many cucus who need their heads shorn (cukur ppala).”


Here I thought I had an opening to say what I had had in mind. Readers who missed Wan A Hulaimi’s article may read what he wrote before I have my say, which I will do so in three sections, this being the first. Insya Allah the 2nd part will follow soon.





Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

With a sigh ( Pt 4 ) – Do I carry on or call it a day?

“O, no, … only NINE ….?” cried my first little thought when I stepped into my class at Almanar one day last week. Rising to their feet to greet me were just nine pupils, ALL GIRLS. What has become of all the boys?

These were children of 13+ who have completed their standard 6 (UPSR) exam and are waiting to be slotted into the various prestigious secondary schools (the like of MRSM, SBP, Sekolah Integrasi, Sekolah Elit, Sekolah Kelaster, sekolah agama negeri, not to name the private ones as well) or just into the nameless and humble one close to my home.

Almost 50 of these 13+ pupils have enrolled at Almanar for an interim class which I run during this long end-of-the-year school holidays with the aim of helping them to pass their free time in something useful. Of this number there were 15 boys, a creditable percentage.

But that morning there were just 15 and without a single boy!

What has become to the children of this vicinity? This seems to be the trend within the last few years, despite the known increase in population and the visible increase in the number of schools? Are the parents not interested to see their children spend some time usefully during these long holidays? The situation was far better during my earlier years with Almanar.

I say all these WITH A SIGH.

----------------

I had to put aside my feeling of dismay. Life must go on. Among the nine children present that morning were four girls with 5As in UPSR exam. The government of this state has been very proud of the UPSR results, topping other states for several years. So that morning I had a fair share of ‘pelajar pelajar cemerlang’ (excellent pupils).

In the course of doing some simple exercises in English, I asked if anyone could tell me the meaning of the word ‘these’ in a sentence that began with ‘ These words …..’. There was dead silence. Finally, one of the girls with 5As responded by saying that ‘these’ meant ‘berikut’.

What about the meaning of ‘this’ was my next question. All seemed to know ‘ini’. I followed that with the word ‘that’ and ‘those’. That literally drew a blank. At the end a couple of them plucked up the courage to say that they thought both words ‘that’ and ‘those’ meant ‘ini’ as well.

I can quote many examples of the above nature among pupils of higher forms attending Almanar. I may put a small posting on this one day.

Indeed, some may be proud to blow the trumpet over the improved performance of our children in English.

But I can only DRAW A SIGH.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

------------
P/S:
I may not seem to be doing justice to the children elsewhere, especially in the urban areas. But I say what I have been seeing the last sixteen years in the area where I am. The social ills among school children, mat rempit, stealing, house-breaking, drug addiction, birth outside wedlock etc keep gaining prominence, and they are very real and frightening indeed.

With a sigh ( Pt 3 ) - good news ?

Two news items left me heaving sighs of different kinds.

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A) ‘Sekolah pelajar hamil tetap ditubuh’ ran the head-line in a local daily.

That is truly fantastic. This will help girls who have prematurely ventured into marital activities. The presence of this ‘special’ school will offer these young mothers a chance to continue their studies - especially in Biology, I suppose!

Thinking aloud, if such a school proves successful, with many of them churned out as experienced gynecologists by our universities of ‘ bertaraf antara bangsa’, many more girls may see this as an incentive to ‘qualify’ joining this very exclusive school – (nauzu billah)

--------------

At the end of our class one day last week a Form 1 girl whispered gleefully to Pakcik that a Form 3 girl she knew had given birth prematurely and was now out of school; and she is from a poor family. So would the ‘dream’ school solve such a family’s problem?

Shouldn’t I draw a sigh of relief that someone has found a brilliant answer to one of our increasingly serious social ailments?

----------------------

(B) ‘Kekalkan UPSR, PMR’ runs the front-page head-line of another daily.

Malay Consultative Council (Majlis Perundingan Melayu) which represents 126 Malay NGO’s wants that the two current examinations be retained.

The final decision has not been made but I hope the power that be will hear the voice of this large group. Thus far I have refrained myself from making any comments on the current hotly debated issue.

We have been having enough issues with our current education system to delve into more. To me our efforts ought, in the first place, to be coordinated to improve the quality and competency of present and future teachers to enable them to be truly qualified to teach effectively the subjects they are assigned to. Secondly, the principles and heads of schools must have the skill in managing an organisation. We can win half the battle by improving weaknesses in these two areas. Improving salary scales and more opportunities for promotion may not help much. It is worse if promotions are politically influenced and nepotism is allowed to flourish. How often do we hear that ‘so-and-so should have never been there’?

Teachers introduced into schools around 1950's and 1960’s were a class of their own. They were trained at various centres in Malaya (then) including the two very famous training colleges in Tanjong Malim and Malacca, and the two premier colleges in Kirkby and Wolverhampton. At the end of their training they were credited with just diplomas, not the glorified degrees of today. But they were excellent and dedicated educationists.

What did the authority in those years do right? Do we have to reinvent the wheel? Kereta lembu used to have hard wooden wheels. If there is one today it would have tyres and tubes, or tubeless for that matter!

Many would not agree with my comments. Of course we are all entitled to make. After all I was never trained to be an educationist. But I am sure many would join me in giving a salute to MCC or MPM for their stance.

And here I heave a sigh of relief.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk Kemanusiaan

With a sigh (Pt 2) -Tak adakah siapa yang nampak?

Muqaddimah

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Pakcik’s June 8th posting carried the following news items:

“MB instructed for a thorough investigation into the alleged case of sixteen girls in a secondary school in this city being found pregnant.” ran a line in a local newspaper.

Isn't this a 'good' and early start ?

Now Pakcik will add recent news of this famous city of ‘persisiran pantai’.

‘As many as 10 couples are caught daily by anti-vice volunteers along the Tok Jembal and Teluk Ketapang beaches, which are increasingly becoming favourite haunts for sexual trysts………Many of them are said to be students from institutes of higher learning.’

So, at last, it has progressed to the institute of higher learning of ‘taraf antara-bangsa’ no less!

A state executive councilor was reported to say that ‘These activities could lead to moral decay among our youths if we keep mum on the matter ……’ and he planned ‘to suggest to the state government to light up both beaches and intensify patrols at the areas’.

------------

? ? ? ?

So, what do we do Mr Holmes?

Elementary, my dear, Watson, elementary
This definitely has to do with the beautiful beaches. If it is hard enough as it is to maintain the city street lights can you do it for hundreds of kilometers of beaches? So remove the sand,Watson. Be a sand exporter of taraf antara-bangsa. Of course you will destroy the beaches. After all you ‘bakar kelambu kerana nyamok seekor,’ right?

---------------------------------

The Message

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Tak adakah yang nampak ?

The following minor incident took place at an Al-Manar class early this year.

Aliya (not her real name), a frail looking girl of thirteen, had joined our class of Form One about one month earlier. Whenever Pakcik talked she listened and stared at Pakcik attentively from her seat in the second row. But when everyone else was busy copying what was written on the white board, Aliya bent her head over her friend’s book, copying from it and never bothered to look up like others. Obviously she had problem with her eyesight. “Aliya, why don’t you use your glasses on the table?” I questioned her.

It turned out that the pair of glasses in front of her belonged to her elder sister. She borrowed it to come to Almanar. It helped her along the road somewhat but not good enough to read the board.

Hearing the explanation I asked her to move to the front row. But it was still not good enough. The best I could do for her was to make her sit right across my table, with the white board barely two meters away from her. Lo and behold, it was still not good enough.

Where did she sit in her class at school? Well, the answer was in the second row.

I questioned myself, ‘tak adakah seorang guru yang nampak? If there was one did he/she really care to do something?”

To borrow Quranic ayat in Al A’raf : 179- (in different context) :” ……they have hearts with which they fail to grasp the truth, and eyes with which they fail to see, and ears with which they fail to hear. They are like cattle …..”

--------------------------------

Footnote

Aliya was not the first case. We had another early this month. Both could not be more deserving to get the glasses for free. I can understand how their humble parents feel to walk up to the majestic building called school in their slippers to seek help.

With the help of Al-Manar’s well wishers both children can now see the light; more motivated knowing that there are people who care. After all each pair cost RM 89/= , insignificant to many but meaningful to a few.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

Comment by Stranger in USA - With a sigh - (pt1)

A reader has broken his ( just my assumption - could equally be a she ) silence, remaining anonymous and calling himself ‘Stranger in USA’. He appears to be attending a university but I have a gut feeling that he is a matured student. He has nicely summarised two views on promiscuity and freedom of speech at a university. Here is what he had to comment on my last entry:

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Salam Pakick & Makcik,If I can share my observation so far from the other side of the world.1. Teen pregnancy is also a major problem in this part of the world. However, there are many NGO programmes promoting either abstinence and safe sex. Even in university we are taught safe sex. This does not translate into promiscuity. This is only as way for making informed choices and knowing the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Those with strong religious belief and faith will stick with abstinence. 2. Our uni here requires the first year students to continue their studies with English regardless of the fact that your mother tongue is English unless one is excused from taking one. Here we are taught to write analytically. For students, who need help in their writing, there is a writing centre that offers this service on campus. What I like over here is the fact that lecturers are open to our views even if they can be quite controversial. We are encouraged to further substantiate our finding with concrete evidence. Weaker students will not be left behind. They are given constant motivation and every single work that they do will contribute to final results. Seek help, open one's mouth to speak up and one will enjoy your study here.Apologies for the long winded explanation here Pakcik.Stranger in USA

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Dear ‘Stranger in USA’.

You are no longer a silent reader. Like the lecturers mentioned above we, too, are open to your 'views even if they can be quite controversial', as you said. Thank you.

Pakcik and Makcik wish you success and all the best in your endeavours.

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

With a sigh (Pt 1) – KELUHANKU - Apa nak jadi?

“MB instructed for a thorough investigation into the alleged case of sixteen girls in a secondary school in this city found pregnant.” ran a line in a local newspaper.
“This state recorded the highest number of drug addiction” ran another bit of news.
“This state continues to top UPSR results”, was another sensational news.
“Two pupils beat and robbed another near a 24-hr outlet”, yet said another.

Bolehkah ini berlaku disebuah negeri yang berbangga dengan keputusan UPSR tahun demi tahun dan mempunyai ramai U l u l - A l b a b ??

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Last week a lady rang up to ask if she could come over to talk about his son. He needed help badly. Of course she could.

Accordingly, just before noon on the following day a lady of about forty turned pillion riding behind a pleasant young boy, neither wearing a helmet and I can bet my bottom ringgit the boy had no license. She was holding a small plastic bag which she handed to Pakcik.

“Sedikit ketupat baru masak,’ she murmured on seeing the inquisitive look o my face. I learned later from her son that her mother and grand-mother cook ‘ketupat pulut’ for sale to supplement the earning brought home by the family bread winner, a gardener of18 years - beginning a year before the boy was born.

Ali (not his real name) is a Form Five pupil of a quite well known secondary school in the state. In his PMR exam he obtained a creditable number of 5 A’s , one B and 2C’s, the last two being in English and Maths. “His English is very poor and we have done everything, including attending ‘expensive’ tuition classes in the evening,” the mother lamented. SPM exam is less than six months away. Something drastic has to be done.

“Tolonglah Pakcik!” she practically begged, understandably of course. Ali is the eldest of her three children. She dreams of seeing him enjoying a better future than just being another school gardener in the family.

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The mother's mention of 'tukang kebun' brought to mind the picture a man of about thirty who came to help mow the grounds surrounding Al-Manar, about an acre in all, . He was a bachelor, a pleasant one at that. Somehow one particular habit rather baffled me. Each time prior to begin his work he would ask some cash and disappeared for about thirty minutes. That went on for about two months until another youth I know well whispered, “Pakcik, be careful with him. He is one of ‘them’, requiring ‘that something’ to have energy to work.” – not unlike my lawn mower needing petrol before running!

----------------------

What of the evening tuition classes attended by Ali? The mother quickly volunteered a simple answer. She could ill afford the twenty five ringgits per month when the boy benefited nothing from it. “It was all noise, in a class of about forty.” The boy added. (We were conversing in Malay all the while.)

I did not want brush off the request there and then as I was beginning to get curious how bad the boy's English really was. After all Ali attends a fairly respectable school whose principle has just been promoted to manage a prestigious boarding school, presumable after a series of proven good records. Having spent four-and-a-half years in a school run by such a capable principle Ali could not possibly be that bad; I was fairly sure. But I still wanted to know. So I asked him to return the following day.

At the appointed time Ali arrived at Al-Manar bringing along a close friend, the son of a fish-monger. The boy's PMR results were almost similar to his. These two boys could not be possibly be short of intelligence having obtained 5 A grades. When the initial getting-to-know-you conversation ended and they were fairly at ease, I gave them a list of about 150 Basic English words and asked them to identify those they did not know.

The outcome horrified me. I found it hard to believe my ears when both of them, two Form Five pupils, did not know the meaning of a large number of words such as :
Beginning
Sentence
Front
Human being
Desk
Floor , etc. etc.

Following that I picked up two words, accident and pen, from the list, and made them translate into English these two Malay sentences :

a ) Kelmarin ada satu kemalangan

b) Dua pen ini saya punya.

It took them a while to produce:

a) Yesterday have accident .

b) Two pen is my.

Speechless, stunned, was I? No, I would only breathe a big sigh; What has the school done to these boys these boys? What has the alleged school not done to the girls bulging to the seam one after another? What is PENDIDIKAN? Where does the buck stop

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I do not mind doing what I have been doing for sixteen years without a cent, but I would not want to be a gardener for eighteen years even for a living. No, if I have it my way, Ali will not be one like his father, insya Allah. This is one challnge which I relish.

` Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan

P/S
A class of 40 pupils X RM 25 per pupil per month = RM 1,000 per month
2 hours per evening X 4 evening per month = 8 working hours per month
That works out to RM 125 per hour.
If I work just for five evenings each week I would make RM 5,000 every month

If I were a teacher of such calibre I would work for 5 evenings each week, earn RM 5000 per months and sleep all day long. – just a hard day’s night!

Or if I still want be a teacher I will 'think smart', play the right game and get my promotion.

I Salute:

But I know many, many heroes, teachers who work their guts out, under unfavourable conditions and away from home and family, educating the young – many of whom go without so much as being noticed or appreciated by their superiors, let alone rewarded; and yet loving and enjoying in what they are doing for a mission they believe in.

To ex Al-Manar pupils who are serving as teachers away from, Sibu, Bintulu, Kapit, Tawau, Sandakan, Semporna and so on; to my engineer -cum-teacher at a school with 85 pupils in Kg Parit Makuangseng ( many would ask "Where on earth that is?" ), Pakcik would hope and pray that you all live up to the spirit of Almanar (the guiding light that comes from Him).

Such is life – what we make of it.