Have A Wonderful Teacher's Day

To all the lovely teachers , here's wishing you ,"Happy Teacher's Day". May this day and every other day as well be a happy day filled with joy, satisfaction and peace. May all have the good spirit and strength to carry out our duties , to overcome the problems and to face the challenges as they come along. May we do it all with lots of patience , continue to touch our students' hearts and make a difference in their lives. It's wonderful to be a teacher.

For me, 31 beautiful years of teaching brings me joy and satisfaction all along. Whether I have gone through life's difficult experience or life's happiest moments , it is wonderful . I believe, it makes us a better and wiser person. I just can't explain the things I do sometimes as the actions could be either right or wrong. All I know is we are all not perfect and we did not choose to be bad as well.

However, looking back to those younger teaching days , I remembered I was more enthusiastic and ambitious than now . How serious and sometimes fierce I was when I wanted to send the message to my pupils that I meant real business. But the pupils then were not so rebellious and after a scolding or two they had changed to be better. That is why when I received messages from some of my ex-pupils, I laughed as they mentioned they still could remember I pinched them. Could be painful and it was just a little sign of warning. If you are not a teacher you would not know how it feels being played out by the pupils. Sometimes using some psychology doesn't work so the easiest and better way is just by hitting the palms with a ruler. In fact, when I was in Convent Light Street Primary School 40 over years ago, I received worse punishments. Just imagine all the humiliating ones such as sucking pacifiers, wearing dunce hats and even doing physical exercises in my panties. Perhaps, that had influenced me a bit. Anyway, those were the days and I still thank and appreciate my teachers' efforts to make me into somebody and I am what I am now partly because of them.

These few years, with the influence of the net and cyber cafes , I seem not to be able to do anything effective. The attitude of a group of pupils who frequent these places cannot be changed. I have caught them hanging there just before my extra English class and gave them a warning. The joke was they returned to school just before my class was about to begin and I praised them. However, when I discovered that the whole group had disappeared again, I was really shocked they had cheated me in fact. To these 'rascals', they just want some fun and they are thrilled when they can play some pranks. Very mischievous indeed. These primary school kids are more daring or bold than before. They want their teachers to be friendly and talk to them.

So through these 31 years of teaching, I can say I have to learn to adapt and am still doing so. Not adapting to the pupils' attitudes but also to the education system, the English syllabus and teaching methods. Glad I did it all and still have 6 more years to go before retirement. Am looking forward to the relief from this heavy burden of school work and instead will be concentrating on social work and community activities which I love very much.

Teaching itself is rewarding and even more when the results is excellent. That is not necessarily so as it is the sense of satisfaction and the appreciation shown by others that matters. I have excellent students who never bother to contact me. Once I met one or two and they even pretended not to see me , perhaps thinking I don't recognize them. Nowadays, I am getting more forgetful as you can imagine so many pupils have passed my hands. It was the urge to contact them so that we can all be reunited, friends and teachers as well that I initiated the Alumni of SK Selama. I also created the Alumni SK Selama in Facebook Group and the Sk Selama Jalan Menteri Facebook Group besides administrating the school official portal www.skselama.net . It is through this media that we can reach out to one another and get reconnected and it is wonderful.

I had the experience of holding administrative posts in school but quit it after my promotion as Master Teacher or Guru Cemerlang . Have served for almost 10 years as a GC and it has given me plenty of new experiences. Attended a number of training courses and got involved in training of teachers programmes, organizing programmes, attending workshops, meetings, conventions, seminars and others. My job sees me delivering motivation talks on learning English and other sorts of presentations and Red Crescent activities.

I love teaching and my pupils. We have to teach them about good values in life and set a good example. As a teacher I got the opportunity to make a difference in their lives. We can influence them to become a better person and so on. In nature, I am a simple person who love to do the most I can and if I have the means I love to contribute the most to society. It is because I feel, as a teacher I am able to do many things for society with my skills and knowledge. It is with these interests that I got involved in a number of NGOs outdoor and have never regretted it.

Being able to help others especially the poor and needy, the abused , sick, the physically challenged and victims of domestic violence makes my life more meaningful. However, I would like to confess, it is not as peaceful as you may think. I face threats, complains and criticisms however I have to stand tall and carry on more tactfully. Well, I can't say much about how I go along in my social work here. A reporter just interviewed me recently and I told her to hold on .

Just love to carry on my teaching days happily till the end. Once again, I think teachers need a lot of support and encouragement in their work. Parents must remind their children to always respect their teachers and behave properly. My heart breaks when I hear of news about those drastic actions taken against teachers and how they get battered and hit by their students and sometimes parents. I do hope, teachers' welfare is well taken care of. Also , the government will consider the teachers' safety and insurance scheme for them. We teachers don't demand much . There has been some improvement to our benefits but this can still be improved.

"Happy Teacher's Day"