FMT letter via email from Dharm Navaratnam
My daughter started her primary education six years ago. I decided to enrol her in SK Seri Hartamas, the national school closest to our home. I did this against the advice of many people. Nearly everyone my family spoke to had something negative to say about the national school system and told us to consider a private school instead.
Some suggested an international school and some said we should choose a Chinese vernacular school. A few said we should opt for a “better” national school than SK Seri Hartamas if we were adamant on putting her through the national school system.
To me, SK Seri Hartamas was the logical choice even though some national schools in nearby neighbourhoods were said to be better. I believe that primary school is not just a place for academic learning but also where children make friends. I felt it was important for my daughter to go to a school in our own neighbourhood so that she would have friends living in the area.
The school has a good mix of students from different ethnic groups. My daughter now has a good bunch of friends who can, as a group, pass for Bangsa Malaysia. Indeed, that was one of the reasons I wanted her to be in a national school.
My daughter is football crazy. She joined the school’s football club in her first year there and became its only girl member. I’m thankful to the teacher in charge for not restricting her training and her participation in matches because of her gender. That would have been easy to do.
As the years went by, she was able to match the boys in football skills. The teacher made a request to the district education department to allow a girl to play on the boys team because the school had no team for girls. But the department would not allow it, apparently because there were safety concerns.
But the teacher must be commended for trying to make a difference. He could have just accepted the conventional view that it’s not proper for a girl to play on a boys team. Instead he went the extra mile and continued to encourage her, boosting her confidence in knowing that she was good enough to play with the boys. In a way, he gave emphasis to the fact that girls could be just as good as boys in anything.
Another teacher encouraged her to take up netball. It’s a game she had never played before, but she ended up playing for the school.
The school encouraged students to try out things they might never have done on their own, from competing in chess to taking part in spelling and choral speaking competitions. In doing so, the children learned things about themselves that they might otherwise not have known. This is what a holistic education is all about.
As for the academic curriculum, different people have different views about it. Remember that it was six years ago that the government introduced a revamped KSSR curriculum, under which Mathematics and Science are taught in Bahasa Malaysia.
Credit to the profession
No system can be perfect for sure, but under the new curriculum, students are learning at a younger age things that many of us learned when we were much older or even after we had reached adulthood. For example, they are taught about the phases of the moon, they learn the names of different constellations and how to recognise them, they are shown how to distinguish between a flathead and a Philips screwdriver and they study basic electrical circuits. They even have to carry out projects involving capacitors and transistors. They know about acids and alkalis, coordinates, ratios and proportions and also basic statistics. Some adults don’t even know some of these things. So, really, the curriculum can’t be as bad as some people say it is.
I think I speak for a lot of parents when I say that SK Seri Hartamas has a bunch of dedicated and committed teachers. They are a credit to their profession. They go beyond academic teaching to share with the children their life stories and experiences. They often treat their pupils like their own children and they become role models for them.
These same teachers conducted extra classes on weekends and sometimes even at night for the Standard Six pupils. As this year’s UPSR examination followed a new format, the school wanted to ensure that the children were well prepared. The teachers implemented a programme called Shine, which focused on Mathematics and Science. There was also a programme called Juara, which got the help of parents to host small study groups. In another programme, academically strong students are assigned to help their weaker colleagues with their studies. This was an excellent idea. It can be looked at as an effort to teach children to appreciate the value of helping out one another.
Of course a school is more than just pupils, teachers and administrators. Parents should also actively work with teachers to make the school a conducive place for children. This is a role that should be played by every parent, not just the parent-teachers association.
At the recent graduation night, it was heartening to see students from different cultural backgrounds taking part in Malay dances, Chinese dances and Indian dances and singing Malay and English songs. The finale had all the performers singing together before shaking hands with each other and every member of the audience. Some were seen hugging each other. All of this is proof that a school can foster unity if it wants to.
Sadly, not all schools are created equal. Not all schools have good infrastructure. Not all schools are located in easy-to-reach places. Most important of all, not all schools have Puan Noraidah, Puan Aizam, Cikgu Sor, Cikgu Helmi, Puan Sharmini, Cikgu Kamal, Puan Hamizah, Puan Natasha or Cikgu Khadry, to name just a few.
Dharm Navaratnam is an FMT reader.
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