Putting skills to good use decades after retirement

Chan (front row, third from left) with other former teachers at the RTC reunion in Petaling Jaya. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

Although they retired decades ago, many teachers trained by the defunct Regional Teaching Centre (RTC) continue to live active, purposeful lives.

Sheila Chan, 80, a former English and geography teacher, said that after retiring from teaching in 1990, she went on to serve her church community.

She also contributes to the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), where she served as a committee member and twice as president.

Lim Keak Tean, the former English and geography teacher now devotes her time to Sahaja Yoga Malaysia

“I received an honorary life membership from YWCA Malay­sia in appreciation of my 30 years of active service.

“Because of my RTC background, I know how to organise activities and I applied those skills while at the YWCA.

“I’m still involved in both church and YWCA activities,” she told StarMetro during a high-tea reunion held in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, to mark the 60th anniversary of RTC.

The reunion gathered former teachers from Penang, Perak, Selangor and Johor.

Chan, who organised the gathering, said the reunion had been on hold since the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s lovely to catch up, as some of us have not seen each other in years and this is our first reunion since 2019,” she said.

Among those present was SM Rajah, 80. The former head of human resources department at The Star also started off as an RTC teacher.

After teaching, Rajah spent 33 years with The Star before going into human resource consultancy.

“After I left teaching, I joined South-East Asia Press Centre, which is now known as the Malaysian Press Institute. I was in charge of administration.

“From there, I joined The Star when it relocated from Penang to Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, starting as an editorial executive and serving in the company for 33 years.

“I’ve spent the last 15 years working as a human resource consultant in industrial relations at a private university,” he said.

Among the other attendees was Lim Keak Tean, 80, the former English and geography teacher now devotes her time to Sahaja Yoga Malaysia, which offers free yoga classes.

“My husband and I have been doing this for more than 30 years,” she said.

“I’ve taught yoga to people across Malaysia and abroad, including in the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore.”

After the Education Ministry detected a shortage of English language teachers in the 1960s, RTC was established in 1965 to train teachers locally on a part-­time basis for two years, according to Lim.

Intensive training was pro­vided for Arts and Science stream teachers.

However, the RTC model was discontinued once there were deemed to be sufficient teachers in the country.