In loving memory...

 When I was posted to this school, I was a bit dismayed. Situated right smack in the middle of sawah fields ,the road leading here was challenging.

Every working day and even during semester break, I would travelled the path less travelled. 

Reaching the school safely and returning home every evening ,I would say Thank You Allah. I am saved for today. 

Imagine this... the winding one way road, the big sungai on your left and a deep drain on your right. If you arent careful... down the sungai or the drain you go.Or the sawah where many of the teachers experienced.

Then I noticed. Even though this is a village school, the children are good students. As a small school, we teachers in fact know the parents well. Meetings with year 6 parents were done every month. Reports of individual achievement were laid before the parents to see. Yes, we have individual chart, report on each subject. The grade achieved and the expected target in a brown folder. 

As the head, I went over every child's progress.

I noticed another thing. The computer lab. I asked,why dont we use the lab to its full extent. Make our students literacy in computer to the maximum. Soon heads were discussing on how.

Teachers at that time were still struggling themselves to learn. So we engage an IT knowledgeable teacher from out side. For a minimal fee we encouraged children to join. Later it was made the school compulsory subject. Those who couldnt afford we sought the help of our PIBG.

The officers in town were surprised to see children as young as year one, could fare well in computer study.

Budak2 kat sekolah pekan pun tak tau nak buat macam ni...was an exclaim I heard.

I could do more but a transfer for me to a school in town took away my dream. I dream to a have my students doing well in BI and be proficient in Mandarin. I dream to have a lab or kitchen where students could learn cooking, sewing and other domestic skills. 

When I went back to the school a few years later, the fern trees that the teachers palnted had already grown big. But the programs with the computer were not carried out anymore.

Kak, policy jabatan. They said. Kita tak boleh buat business dengan harta benda kerajaan.

To this I said... Business taik kucing apa. Berapa cikgu tu dapat sebulan nak run program ni. Come on la... tak boleh beli basikal pun. Jauh lah merc.

Kononya ada repot naik jabatan yang cikgu sekolah subahat dengan kedai IT . Buat bisnes kelas komputer. 

If I were there, I would stood up and say...

Lebih rugi anak2 murid tak kenal komputer walau komputer depan mata disekolah. I did that tuition with the sole purpose of helping the children be computer literate from the early age.

Nanti rosak komputer sapa nak bayar. Cikgu IT tu buka cikgu. Pulak.

Never did they know that the class to carry out, there was a teacher assigned.Never did they know that the children came running to the lab with happy faces.

Berangan cikson anak anak handal memasak dan masuk masterchef kanak2. Tu baru hebattt. Itu pun tinggal angan.Angan2 yang berasal dari school visit di Edinburgh. Murid sekolah rendah belajar memasak dan menjahit .Lelaki dan perempuan .

Semalam termimpi hari pendaftaran masuk sekolah.....