Last recent Monday, 4 teachers including me went on a social visit to the homes of 3 excellent students who the school target them to be the school's top scorers in PMR and SPM because they have been doing very well indeed not just in their academic but also in sports and attitude wise. I was pretty excited because this would be my first time visiting students' home, getting to know their family and make a personal connection with my students' more and actually going out of Kemayan a bit to somewhere that I never knew existed. The program is called 'Kunjungan Mesra' and apparently my school has been doing it every year to encourage the student to do a whole lot better and to make sure the family helps the student and also to offer assistance to the family on behalf of the school.
At first I have to admit, I thought it was a bit awkward, I mean, waddaya do when you get to the homes? Waddaya say? and Why do we hafta go to their homes again? I mean, its not that I don't want to go but I didn't really see the point initially when the program was to be conducted. Nonetheless, I was steady and ready to actually gain insights!
Actually, there were many students who the school target to be top scorers, 30 (in both major exams, PMR and SPM if I'm not mistaken) and so teachers who taught these students were divided into 3 groups and in that 3 groups, teachers were again divided on who would go to this house or that house.
The first house I went to was a girl student of mine, form 3. She is quiet, nice and hardworking although I remembered having scolded her for speaking too faintly when doing presentations and answering questions, huhu. I already knew her family was poor but I didn't quite realized that it felt like a Bersamamu program when I parked in front of her house. It broke my heart that her family lack a lot of things and that only her was the hope of the family and if she didn't score well in PMR, she would probably be stuck in the same situation she is now or she would most probably be a factory girl like her eldest sister...I didn't know what to say except boring ol cliche words of studying hard and you can do it, blabla, it felt insipid because I wanted her to be extraordinary and yet, I dread if she fail to reach the benchmark...Why do I say this? Because somehow, she is not like Nik Madihah, and the thing is, she needs to be but she's not so how do you make her see? I have no idea either...
The second house is totally different from the first. Located half an hour (or 40 minutes?) from school going down a long and winding lonely road with nothing but oil palm trees and cows and horrid road holes and then I saw it, houses far from civilazation named Ladang Risda. She is a form 3 student of mine and the closest to me so I was pretty much looking forward to see her family. Her father is educated and is the boss of the place so the house is big, comfortable and it has all the things that a banglo in a city has so basically when I entered her house, it didn't seem like she lived far from the world at all. As a result of an educated father, a mother who cares for her only daughter's education and because she had once schooled in a Methodist school, we, the teachers spent quite a lot of time there talking. Her father said that although the pay is good but its hard to live so far from everything. The parents have to teach their sons and daughter everything from the Quran to the academic stuffs and when they don't have time to do so, that's when they worry. It's different living in the town or city whereby you could just sent your children to people's houses, maybe a tutor comes and teach, to tuition centres and etc but they couldn't do it because after school, the children are already tired and then at night, the roads are too scary plus the father works so he's weary too. But then, I salute the parents because every night this girl does go to tuition done by the teachers of my school on every Monday to Thursday night, 8.30pm-10.30pm. and I am one of the teacher and I never knew that she lived so far away. I am always punctual to come and let the students out at 10.30pm and I never knew her parents actually slept in the Hilux while I'm teaching and that sometimes, her younger bros come and stayed in the car while waiting 2 hours for her. I NEVER KNEW these things and ONLY THEN I KNEW and it disturb me like hell...I don't know what to do and one of the teacher said that its normal for parents to make these kind of sacrifices and that as long as I'm doing a good job then I don't hafta worry about anything BUT I DO and that Monday night, I let my students go back at 10pm. At least when the girl arrives home, it would be before 11pm and the parents could sleep well at last after a hard day's work...
The third house was an average house and the family is not too poor nor too rich and not much to tell about the third student because I don't teach him so I don't really know him very well. Besides, it was getting late and we needed to go back before the sun sets.
At first I have to admit, I thought it was a bit awkward, I mean, waddaya do when you get to the homes? Waddaya say? and Why do we hafta go to their homes again? I mean, its not that I don't want to go but I didn't really see the point initially when the program was to be conducted. Nonetheless, I was steady and ready to actually gain insights!
Actually, there were many students who the school target to be top scorers, 30 (in both major exams, PMR and SPM if I'm not mistaken) and so teachers who taught these students were divided into 3 groups and in that 3 groups, teachers were again divided on who would go to this house or that house.
The first house I went to was a girl student of mine, form 3. She is quiet, nice and hardworking although I remembered having scolded her for speaking too faintly when doing presentations and answering questions, huhu. I already knew her family was poor but I didn't quite realized that it felt like a Bersamamu program when I parked in front of her house. It broke my heart that her family lack a lot of things and that only her was the hope of the family and if she didn't score well in PMR, she would probably be stuck in the same situation she is now or she would most probably be a factory girl like her eldest sister...I didn't know what to say except boring ol cliche words of studying hard and you can do it, blabla, it felt insipid because I wanted her to be extraordinary and yet, I dread if she fail to reach the benchmark...Why do I say this? Because somehow, she is not like Nik Madihah, and the thing is, she needs to be but she's not so how do you make her see? I have no idea either...
The second house is totally different from the first. Located half an hour (or 40 minutes?) from school going down a long and winding lonely road with nothing but oil palm trees and cows and horrid road holes and then I saw it, houses far from civilazation named Ladang Risda. She is a form 3 student of mine and the closest to me so I was pretty much looking forward to see her family. Her father is educated and is the boss of the place so the house is big, comfortable and it has all the things that a banglo in a city has so basically when I entered her house, it didn't seem like she lived far from the world at all. As a result of an educated father, a mother who cares for her only daughter's education and because she had once schooled in a Methodist school, we, the teachers spent quite a lot of time there talking. Her father said that although the pay is good but its hard to live so far from everything. The parents have to teach their sons and daughter everything from the Quran to the academic stuffs and when they don't have time to do so, that's when they worry. It's different living in the town or city whereby you could just sent your children to people's houses, maybe a tutor comes and teach, to tuition centres and etc but they couldn't do it because after school, the children are already tired and then at night, the roads are too scary plus the father works so he's weary too. But then, I salute the parents because every night this girl does go to tuition done by the teachers of my school on every Monday to Thursday night, 8.30pm-10.30pm. and I am one of the teacher and I never knew that she lived so far away. I am always punctual to come and let the students out at 10.30pm and I never knew her parents actually slept in the Hilux while I'm teaching and that sometimes, her younger bros come and stayed in the car while waiting 2 hours for her. I NEVER KNEW these things and ONLY THEN I KNEW and it disturb me like hell...I don't know what to do and one of the teacher said that its normal for parents to make these kind of sacrifices and that as long as I'm doing a good job then I don't hafta worry about anything BUT I DO and that Monday night, I let my students go back at 10pm. At least when the girl arrives home, it would be before 11pm and the parents could sleep well at last after a hard day's work...
The third house was an average house and the family is not too poor nor too rich and not much to tell about the third student because I don't teach him so I don't really know him very well. Besides, it was getting late and we needed to go back before the sun sets.
