With a Sigh ( No 18) – PBS, Oh PBS

PBS , Oh PBS

No, that is not a new political party. It is the innovative scheme to improve school education which will ensure our pride in the “world class” position.   

But last week saw our dailies highlighting vocal resistance from teachers. So, now there is a need to review PBS – just a review? In the same week there was a press statement made by a person in authority. It was headlined as “Tiada pelajar tercicir menjelang 2020” (No pupils will be left behind by 2020. I congratulate our world-class thinkers and planners. What a brave declaration that was.

What matters to Pakcik, however, is how my humble Almanar centre fares when the situation seems less than satisfactory. Over the period of 20 years we, the invisible hands of Almanar, have done something tangible; starting with just an open space with roof over for a class-room, followed with a proper room within four walls, and followed with more rooms, termed as ‘syndicate’ rooms for children to sit in discussion or to have quiet forty winks, etc. We have computers, reference books,toilets and we have kitchenette to make a cup of tea or cook Maggie mee. Occasionally, we have children spending the night on the pretext of doing group study. Sadly, despite what appears progress in our facility, the decreasing number of children joining Almanar tuition class is most depressing to Pakcik. This,indeed,matters to me, PBS does not.

This year’s intake into Form 1 tuition class has greatly slumped from as many as over 40 children in the earlier years. Today, the number of new 2014 Form 1 tuition class, stands at less than 20. That includes the last group of 8 children, all girls, who turned up one day last week. The sight of them was an unexpected joy to Pakcik, a gift from heaven. I felt the urge to record their faces. Here is the outcome.

            Sweet and innocent kids

When they all had gone home and I sat to analyse their personal data, my heart sank. Have a look at the summary of the UPSR examination results in five papers the new eight girls sat for at the end of last year.The two grades for the two papers for Malay Language are given as BI i / BI ii  ( representing essay writing /objective questions ).

  Girl No        English    Maths   Science    BI i / BI ii

 1                   E           E            E            E   /   E

 2                   D           C            D           C    /   A

     3                   C           E            C           C     /  B     

 4                   D           C            C           C     /  B

 5                   D           C            C           C     /  B

 6                   C           C            D           C     /  B

 7                   C           C            D           C     /  B

 8                   C           C            C           C     /  C

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         8 children and their UPSR results

How pathetic it is to see that there is only one A-grade among them and this girl has 2 C-grades and 2 D-grades. One girl obtained all E's!

Two days later I conducted my first English lesson for the Form 1 group. I had reasons to justify my early worry when one of the new girls gave me the meaning of the English word ‘man’. She was almost certain that it meant ‘ orang perempuan tua’ (an old woman)!  

Many years ago, I nearly refused accepting a boy with grade D in English and Mathematics in his UPSR examination. Fortunately it was quickly brought to my attention that the poor boy had just lost his father who was run down by a heavy vehicle while he was riding a motorcycle on his way home from work in a FELDA scheme. Orphans are our priority and each must be given a chance. Three years later this boy’s two D-grades in English and Mathematics at UPSR level turned to A-grades in his PMR examination; and today he is a married man, expecting his first baby. That was an early lesson I learnt. Accepting a challenge is not what we tell our children but what we must prove ourselves. After all, Almanar’s motto (Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemasyarakatan )  was not thought out for show;  for that matter, ‘Almanar’ for a name was not just a flash of fancy.       

Of the last eight new children one is an orphan and the rest have fathers who earn their living from fishing, do manual work in construction of kampong houses, drive a delivery vehicle; and one father is a specialist in climbing the tall village coconut palms to hand-pick the fruit - for a meagre daily earning to support his family.

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On our first day last week, one girl in the front seat of the class, instead of copying from the white board, was seen copying notes from a friend sitting beside her. That was not an uncommon phenomenon. So, she has been promised a pair of glasses next week.

These are children who know they need help and have taken the first step to come to Almanar on the encouragement of a concerned teacher in English. Some local teachers do voice their support for Almanar but many of today's kampong children have no wish to waste their precious socialising time to attend free tuition classes. Many prefer to attend the mushrooming tuition classes in the vicinity - to socialise. It is widely known here that many parents believe what is handed out for free cannot be of much value! 

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So when I read all about PBS and the great ‘blueprint’ in education, I sit back and smile at my Almanar 'children'. It is satisfying, in a devious way, to heave a long sigh that, by 2020, this is all but history! These eight girls will be among the first group to benefit from the improved 'blue-print' of our world-class education.   

Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan