Juggling The Jigsaw Puzzles Of July (Part III) : Lumut & Felda Sg. Klah Hot Spring. Educational Shenanigans For Malaysian Teachers. 1st Leg of SK Serendah's Co-Curriculum Carnival 2011 ("1 Malaysia" Poem Recitals & First Aids Demonstration). The Most Beautiful Woman In The World Is A Pregger!

I never expected that I’ll be returning to the shore of Lumut within the span of 2 weeks but an invitation by friend who had some errands to settle in Lumut brought me back to the hub of naval base and maritime tourism in Perak. It was a serene and tranquil escapade from the hustle bustle life in the Central Region; especially as a solace from the ever-congested professional schedule in this month of July.

Lavished ourselves with the seafood (well, you are in the seashore area; what else would you lavishing yourself with, aite?); and pushed off to the Central Region via old road sans PLUS toll! On the way, performed prayer at a little cute mosque in the Southern Trolak and not far from the mosque, there is a signboard to Felda Sg. Klah hot spring! What wasn’t planned became an instantaneous idea!

The location of the hot spring is somewhat in a secluded part of Felda Sg. Klah. Along the road, you can see lines of palm trees and when you reached the Felda, cute housing estates mirroring the typical Malay village emerge. It was surreal and even enthralling when you see that the Hot Spring is located further deep. But how shocking it was seeing a lavish resort in the middle of palm-trees plantation and the recreation park was on par with its recreational counterparts in Kuala Lumpur, I say! The management created trails and wooden bridge around the park and there is segregation of hot springs according to the degree of temperatures. There is also big artificial waterfall rock ala Sunway Lagoon; cascading water into a big hot spring pool and a few stalls selling beverages and fast foods. There is also a place for people to boil eggs (due to the hot temperature of water) and also to relax foot in the water! With RM20 per entry, it was a worthy experience!

As for professional tentative; on Tuesday 12th July, all the class teachers were given “In-House Training” by our Examination Secretary, Ustaz Shuib on exercising the latest education system posed by Ministry of Education under the newly-imposed NKRA act, that is “Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah.“ Through this system, class teachers MUST

• key-in all the details of biodata,
• family background,
• moving-in-and-out  (pupils’ transition and whereabouts),
• performances in pupils’ achievements,
• head counts,
• subjects analysis

and as for subject teachers, updating the TOV (target of pupils’ achievement prior to examinations) and also analysing subjects they teach! Ministry always come up with innovative ideas to improve teachers in Malaysia yet THOROUGH RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT AFFECTING THE EDUCATION STAFFS & TEACHERS ARE ALWAYS IGNORED. In Malaysia, teachers are now computerized clerks to key data; teaching and imparting knowledge? perhaps only 30%. But of course when press conferences are held, there is always hankies-pankies go around and Ministry promises to alleviate the burden of teachers being clerks these days – Still, the workloads piling up. What to say? “Saya Menurut Perintah” oath. *Sigh*

On Thursday morning dated 14th July, the 1st leg of Co-Curriculum Carnival 2011 commences with “Pertandingan Mendeklamasikan Sajak Antara Persatua/Kelab” in Malay Language. And of course, I was the emcee (MC) for the event. Approximately around 11 pupils from various societies/clubs represented their respective houses and recited poems with 1-Malaysia theme. And yes, as the Head Teacher of English Society (Persatuan Bahasa Inggeris), I had to choose a representative for my society and Suraya volunteered. Despite her petite and demure persona, she always anticipated to enter poem recitals and stage performances.

I penned myself a 1-Malaysia poem (of course I won’t be sharing it here because I know there are a lot of PEEPING TOMS throughout Malaysia scouting for free 1-Malaysia poems! I ain’t going to give in to plagiarism, no sire!). With short notifications, teachers don’t have ample time to train the pupils and I just squeezed time over here and there to train Suraya. On whole, the girl has talent and good persona but she has butterflies in stomachs when she is alone on the stage facing thronging crowds (well, we all do!). But on whole, it’s just great to see pupils braving themselves up there showing their talents. This reminds me of my good old days as a pupil; I was always active in Malay Language & English stage performances – whether it was debate, elocution, poem-recital, story-telling…. etc! (,”).

After school hours; around 2 PM, a “Latihan Dalam Perkhidmatan” session was conducted where an officer from Jabatan Pelajaran Selangor came to give a talk on “Rekod Penyemakan Buku Latihan/Kerja Murid.”  Honestly although the concept seemed very idealistic on paper and even the practical approach, the implementation is sure to be shouldered by teachers. Apart from all the clerk errands, teachers now are expected to systematically record all the homework given, the skills mastered by pupils and also teachers MUST identify the every specific weaknesses of each of his/her pupils! Books collected MUST be returned at most within 3 days WITH SPECIFIC corrections highlighted! Teachers also MUST be able to inject improvement in pupils.

Sometimes, I get annoyed with all these MUSTS! Ministry comes up with brilliant ideas but they didn’t do thorough research on the implementation. Always emphasizing for the qualities yet the segregation of workload always scarce – everything is focus on the so-called educators/teachers. You expect us to be educators yet the percentage of teaching now is merely 30% whereas for the other 70%, Malaysian teachers now  SIMPLY clerks – documenting data and information for Ministry to boast when press conferences are done so that society will be satisfy with fabricated education policies!!!! *Sigh* But whatever it is, “Saya Menurut Perintah”…. again!

Kak Lela – the oldest contestant? So passionate! Hahahhaa… Kak Lela being so sporting reciting poem in the interval session whilst waiting for the judges to deliberate the result. Teachers are jack of all trades, eh? (,”)

Anyway, just perused the Internet and found out that The Most Beautiful Woman in The World (she scored the highest mark amongst the Miss World; she herself was Miss World 1994) ,the beauty queen-turned-into-Bollywood-actress, Aishwarya Rai Bachan is now pregnant with her first child with Abishek Bachan. Apparently, the grandfather-to-be, Amitabh Bachan blurted the news via his own blog! Well, I am a Bollywood fan as well (didn’t I tell I am a universal soul? LOL!) so this update clearly reflects that. So,congratulations to Abhi -Ash, a portmanteau coined for Aishwarya and her husband Abhishek; a ripple from supercouple term coined concurrent to the likes of Brangelina. Congratulations Abhi-Ash!