The article by the star above is quite interesting and it
offers a lot of things to be debated. But let’s just hope that this blogpost
gonna be a santai one, from umi’s perspective.
Umi is celebrated every year in May as a teacher, as a
birthday girl, and as a mother. Tapi selalunya kitorang wish sekali harung je
in a single occasion hahah. Umi’s gonna reach 50 next year, and as long as I
can remember, she is a very dedicated (and tegas) teacher. The stories that
umi told us were aplenty – about students, teachers, Bahasa melayu syllabus,
and even gossips from the bilik guru pantry.
A story that I would like to share today is about umi’s
transfer from SMK USJ 12 to SMK Alam Megah 2, Shah Alam. Umi requested for
transfer some several years ago due to mobility reason (and also ehem the
stress that the teachers had to endure in usj 12 ehem). Both schools are merely
10 km apart from each other, but boy, they are totally like 10 years apart.
Leaving USJ 12 for Alam Megah 2 is like entering a new Malaysia’s
education situation altogether. I am talking about jurang Pendidikan here. The
number of students who got straight As in the recent SPM exam is like heavens
and Earth; 4 to 70 if I can recall correctly. There are even SPM candidates of
SMK Alam Megah 2 who cannot read and write, let alone writing a whole essay.
Only 2 students got A+ for Bahasa Melayu (including my little sister), and
failing the said subject is normal in the school. Apatah lagi subjek lain kan.
SMK Alam Megah 2 students are mostly Malays. There are only
a handful of Chinese and Indian in the school and yes you may guess it right,
they are the top students there. The Malay students are like the Gempak Starz Under
18’s comic characters. They are wild, truant often, smoke in the toilets,
scratch teachers’ cars, puncture their tires, vandalise school equipments, and
use foul language even to the teachers that they hate.
They come from troubled families e.g. divorced single
parent, fakir miskin, parents involved in gangs, and families hunted by loan sharks.
There’s this one occasion where a student was caught not fasting in the blessed
month of Ramadan. Umi enquired his action and the boy said, “ayah saya kat
rumah pun tak puasa, cikgu.”
“Kenapa awak dan ayah awak tak puasa?”
Handling students like these on a daily basis is indeed
taxing. Umi being a lovely mother she is, often take extra care to approach
them with empathy and not judging the book by its cover. So, it’s a different
ball game altogether in this new school. Kalau dulu umi selalu fokus
meningkatkan bilangan pelajar cemerlang dalam peperiksaan, kini umi lebih
menekankan pembangunan modal insan.
If a teacher tries to inspire these kids to be a successful
doctors and engineers (sebagai contoh), their responses are somewhat similar;
“Penat la cikgu belajar rajin2. Kitorang nak lulus je.”
“Saya nak kerja kilang kat belakang ni je.” (Note: SMK Alam
Megah 2 is surrounded with factories)
“Tak payahlah paksa, cikgu. Cikgu pun tahu kitorang bodoh.”
“Saya insya-Allah sambung bawak lori ayah saya, cikgu.”
There are always a lesson to be learnt and reflected from
these children’s stories, to be honest. It made us think about how well our
country is progressing in terms of education equality and family’s welfare. SMK
USJ 12 might be only 10 km away, but the set of challenges that these teachers
are facing is truly humbling.
I am very proud of umi. She decided to stay at SMK Alam
Megah 2 because she believes that these ‘unfortunate children’ need their
second parents at school. Cuba bayangkan, alamat rumah ibu bapa ada didaftarkan
di sekolah, tapi sebenarnya tiap2 hari budak tu balik rumah dan hidup seorang2
di rumah itu dengan adik-beradiknya.
From what we can observe, their emotional bank account is
almost zero and that is one of the reasons some of them enjoyed staying at
school and lepak borak2 dgn cikgu. Some of them even came at our house at wee
hours sbb nak tumpang tidur sbb tak tahan dengan perbalahan ibu bapa diorang
kat rumah. And yes, they slept in my room downstairs -.-
May Allah bless umi, and towards all the teachers in the
world.
Teachers, keep your faith strong. Sesungguhnya, amal jariah
kalian tak terhitung banyaknya.
Selamat Hari Guru.
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