Relative Abundance Part 2

At the bottom, there is a schedule of expenses for school start up. The places where the materials were procured were shops in Tanah Merah and Machang (by standards of locals here are termed as supermarkets) and the wet market of Machang in Kelantan, Malaysia.

The Tanah Merah Supermarket

Other expenses for the schooling kids are the fees. This term is an anomaly for there are no longer fees for primary and secondary schools in this country. Education is free up to that level. These are actually chargeable items by the school such as for notes and examination costs. It varies from school to school. Together with the exercise books that will come to approximately RM100.00

Pocket money have to be given to the kids too. Generally RM1.00 to 2.00 per day should suffice. RM2.00 is given on days with religious classes in the afternoon known as KAFA here (Kelas Agama Fardu Ain). These afternoon class can be 3 or 4 days a week.

Government Welfare Schemes

The Government have their welfare schemes for the less fortunate too. For example KWAPM (Kumpulan Amanah Pelajar Miskin – Poor Students Trust Fund) is given at RM150 per head. That will be enough to cover the fees and the stationeries. There are no scholarships for Primary School students. For Secondary School Students there is the Biasiswa Kecil Persekutuan - Federal Minor Scholarship which amounts to RM600.00 per annum.

For the less fortunate students at the Primary School there is a before class breakfast scheme which is known as Rancangan Makanan Tambahan Sekolah (RMTS)– Schools Food Supplement Program. In this Hamzah 2 Primary School about 25% of the students received this RMTS.

Inside PM's New Jet.

Welfare & the New Malay.

The former Prime Minister used to lament that these welfare schemes produces subsidy mentality among the Malays. He also did take every opportunity to hit at the dole system in United Kingdom that produces lazy British according to him, without revealing the compulsory minimum contribution imposed and the role played by National Insurance.

The mental revolution and the New Economic Policy aimed at restructuring society has ironically produces Malays that are not poor friendly and viewed poor Malays as troubling the society. With all that had been said, the local federal government representatives here in Kelantan took every opportunity to highlight the federal government hand outs of the state's money to the poor.

This scenario does not take place in say Selangor. Kelantan is the only opposition control state for the past 16 years and the Federal Government had been trying hard to deny any state government credibility, for the party that make up the State Government is not a member of the National Front, a coalition of many parties that formed the Federal Government.

PM's new RM 200million jet.

Last year when the State’s Public Universities (IPTS) was about to be opened there was a massive jam at the Hospital University Science Malaysia (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian. Parents from all over the state was waiting for hours to hear a Federal Minister delivered his speech before collecting some RM1500.00 of State’s money to assist their children to start up at the Universities. Many felt they were being blackmailed but they played to the fiddle. After all the RM1500 per student was an advance of their loan from Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Negara (National Higher Educational Fund), deductible in future. The organizers should have used the State Stadium, probably it would have been a much better and comfortable venue.

READ ABOUT THE RM200million new PM's jet.

For larger family relationship too, it seems that the member of a family that is least successful financially is normally marginalized. The role played by the “middle class” of the family is such that a situation is created where they will be in the good books of the more successful and resourceful members at the expense of marginalizing the least successful members of the family. Now the relationship among individuals have torn up the traditional cultural fabric of brotherly relationship and a new set of relationship based on the interest to have an opportunity for wealth and comfortable living is the new order of the day. This is the end result of the mental revolution of the post independence era of the early sixties.

It should be reminded of the less mentioned saying of Prophet Muhammad SAW that one of the signs of the nearness of the doom’s day is when the rich feel that the poor is troubling them and a burden to the society.

Comparative Expenses

Making kids love School

Hessa seems keen going to school. Unlike her previous year when she was enroll for Pra Sekolah ( Pre School ). Unlike my generation Pre School seems akin to compulsory now a days. By Malaysian law, primary school education is compulsory, parents could be dragged into the court of law if the failed to school their kids. As an extension to that, so is the Pre School enrolment.

In Malaysia nowadays every parent put their kid either in kindergarten which are privately owned and run. These are places for the haves. Those who went to these places are expected to shine above the rest. A cut above in syllabus, upbringing and sharper in English. To start well is the key word. Nobody want to be left behind at the starting block. For the have not, they would have to vie for one of those Pre School places at the school their kids will potentially go to.

Hessa eargerly posing for school

I had observed how my Minister of Home affairs managed my kids – going to school. It is quite a run out from the norm her father, reputed to have been, a hardcore disciplinarian. Records of achievement of his kids proved that he did well. I should say that her softly, softly approach did pretty well too. She is not the kind that pushes her kids to school. Her lacking in emphasis in discipline sometimes worry me. She took it easy even when the kids seems like refusing school on purpose.

Her style have been to progressively make the kids love school. Generally my kids have a bad start. In case of Hessa she had been sickly and had missed school on many occasion. At times I went to school to tell her teacher. Once her, teacher came to the house to know, why she is missing school. Her mum did well, she pampered her, follow her progress in reading and writing and make her felt she misses something for not going to school. It works. The fact that she misses school make her fond of what she would have acquired should she be there. She developed the interest in reading and writing on her own.

At the end of the day she reads and writes reasonably well for her age group before the actual school starts. Mostly importantly she looked prepared and wanting to go to school when it reopens for the recent academic year. I am always for kids to attend the Pre School. It introduces them to school proper observing those slightly older making their ways in school. It is like an orientation program to be accustomed with the ways of schooling proper.

Hessa, first day in class.

A reason that kids normally do not like schools is the way their peer groups behave towards each other. Some of these kids are not really bullies but they are rather harsh and brute. This may make some kids felt uncomfortable. The mum have too always lent their ears to stories from schools which their kids brought home. This is necessary for her to properly anticipate any un-homely and unfriendly atmosphere that developed. The kids may feel that they are bullied, and as such do not like school. When this situation developed the kid is like in a “do, you be damned” and “don’t you’ll be damned” situation. What I meant here is that the kid is faced with a problem of to live with it - will be suffering but to fight it, would leads to more unnecessary problems.

This is where the mum’s role normally comes into play. Whether telling their kids to make more friends or to be choosy of one or whatever. The worst case scenario may be to slow talk to the teacher concerned to change her sitting position, thus re-orientate or re-organize her peer and play groups. The gist of the matter is still to make the kid loves school, like the environment, love their lessons and like the knowledge. That is the best motivation that keeps them going to school and learning.

New broom sweeps clean?

The School - Early Morning, 1st Day

My kids had been in the school going to complete their second year. The Headmistress of the school had retired. She had been good, kind and very considerate to our family. She is a local and had had a long traditional assimilation and association with my larger family. Though we had only spent less than a couple of years with her we could feel the reasons why the parents here like and adore her. She took care of the school and the kids well. She had been with the school since her very humble beginning more than a decade ago.

It was quite a ceremony when she left the school, then her deputy acted as the Headmaster for almost half a year Towards the end of the year a guy was assigned to take her place. He is a stranger to me. If a guy is local or have been here long here, then chances are, a member of my larger family would have befriend him and thus make us connected or feel so. This is a small town where everybody know everybody, somehow.

I was there on the first day of school. It was not for sending my Year One daughter solely but more to see my Year Four daughter’s teacher. To give her a word or two about my daughter and to hand over to the teacher my daughter medical leave certificate. She had an eye surgery to help improved her vision.

The smells of change was there. The teachers were still adjusting to it. When I was at the canteen asking who is the class teacher of my daughter. They had to turn the clock back, thinking from first principle that my daughter will be in Class Four Gigih that will be Four Mercury. The focus were slightly out, every teacher that I talked to, were thinking like that and another standard four teacher , who make a calculative guess (of who would be my daughter’s teacher) did not get it right. Now the school changes the name of the classes to something astronomical, grandiose, intellectual but complicated sounding to the kampong folks. They named it after planets.

As I walked toward the classes I could see, among the first expenditure of change. As usual, the first victims are the signboards. In this case it was the signs on the door front of the classes.

The first day Assembly

I ran into the Headmaster at the front of the school office he pushed the teacher who was the acting headmaster to see me and take the medical leave certificate from me A good sign of first meeting courtesy, I should think. While he was walking away, he mentioned that I need only to call and there is no need for me to come over, a typical very manly welcome. We, man have a thing or two to learn from the ladies. I would thought that the former Headmistress would have handled it slightly differently and had said different things directly to me, if I ever ran into her on that day. She would probably see me in a one sentence meeting, I understand it was a busy day for teachers. She would probably had said,” it is okay now that we know”- period, and that’s her only sentence of our meeting.

The teachers' discussion
There was an assembly. I recalled the Headmaster telling that, there are 997 students with some 53 teachers. I observed that the number of male teachers is about a dozen or so. After doing some background arithmetic. There are about 166 students per Year, distributed into four classes and that make it 41 or 42 students per class. That make the students to teachers ratio of slightly less than twenty to one. How about that comparing to the National Statistics?

The former Headmistress had brought some fame and glory to the school. She had maintain a very green, well landscape and a conducive study environment.. She had also build up a good PR with corporations, local and federal administrative and political leaders. Year in and year out the school had been ranked among the best of the rural schools by the MoE (Ministry of Education) in this country. Anytime I would placed her on the Board of Governors of the school if there is one and I have a say.

Leading to Greater Achievements?