“I said there’s nothing wrong with that, that’s a great choice. But are you choosing it because you really want to do that? Or is it because the computer algorithm told you?” Yasmin, who is based in the United Kingdom, recalled.
“He told me it was because he didn’t think he could do anything else. And I thought that was just wrong. You should always demand excellence for yourself.”
Following her advice, the student reconsidered his choice and went on to pursue another career he was much happier with.
This is just one of countless stories of transformation initiated by Yasmin during her years of experience in education, which spans over two decades. The 41-year-old, who hails from Sarawak, is the founder and leader, respectively, of two of the highest-performing A-levels colleges in the UK.
In 2004, she started the Cardiff Centre of Excellence (now Cardiff Sixth Form College), a private tutorial centre. This soon expanded to become one of the largest sixth-form colleges in Wales, topping the Education Adviser’s League Tables from 2010-2017. It is still the top-scoring A-levels college in the UK.
In 2016, Yasmin joined Oxford International College as its chief education officer. It topped the Education Adviser’s League Tables in 2019, and is now also one of the UK’s top-performing independent A-levels colleges, with 84% of its graduates gaining places in Russell Group universities this year.
Over the past 15 years, she has played a part in the admission of at least 800 students into prestigious institutions such as Oxford University, Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and Imperial College London.
In addition, Yasmin was the winner of the Pearson Teaching Award for Science Teacher of the Year in 2011, and was invited by then-British prime minister David Cameron to attend the award reception at 10 Downing Street.
She has also picked up many other accolades over the years, including the 2015 Welsh Asian Women Achievement Award in Business, and the Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction 2015.
Aspiring for excellence
Yasmin was born in Lawas and raised in Kuching, where she studied at SMK St Teresa’s. To this day, she misses Sarawak laksa and the melodic lilt of Sarawakian dialects.
On scholarship to do her A-levels in the UK, her original plan had been to go into medical school. But when her father became unwell, she opted to take up natural science at Cambridge instead, not wanting her family to be burdened by the high costs of a medical degree.
She then received a grant to do her Master’s in Cardiff, Wales. There, she began tutoring youths from her neighbourhood, many of whom were from underperforming schools and weren’t doing well academically.
While people generally had low expectations of these students, Yasmin endeavoured to instil in them the belief that they were capable of greatness. “It didn’t matter what grades they scored – they could still aspire to be excellent,” she said.
Her approach got results, with many of her students going on to be accepted at top universities. Word got around, and what started as a side gig soon turned into a full-time job: from tutoring from her suburban home, she eventually started the Cardiff Centre of Excellence.
Over the years, Yasmin has been commended for her ability to transform students, no matter their background or personal circumstances, into high achievers with successful careers.
Still, “academic achievements are great, but what I really take great pride in is helping students find their passion, guiding them to turn it into a talent, and then finding the best universities to develop them”, she pointed out.
“That is an aspirational journey that changes lives.”
She has plans to give back to Malaysia: currently, she is working on an educational blueprint, drawing on her years of experience, that will help teachers craft personalised plans to aid their students.
This blueprint has been tested in London, and – believing it can incorporate any type of curriculum, even SPM – Yasmin aims to test it out in Asia soon.
All in all, her achievements are certainly impressive, especially given that she hadn’t originally planned to go into education. “I had regrets for a long time that I didn’t end up doing medicine. But my mother tells me, ‘You’ve helped to create hundreds of doctors’,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s been a great journey. I hope my story inspires teachers and shows them you can excel no matter where you are in the world. You don’t need a certain upbringing or educational background to excel. All you need is a good strategy.”