Team effort: Jonathan (seated, centre) with the other student volunteers at the school.
Urban youths reach out to rural school through volunteer project
AFTER a year of studying chemical engineering in the United Kingdom, I was back in Malaysia recently for a summer break and decided to take up the challenge of doing voluntary work in a remote location.
As a participant of Project Anak Malaysia run by Charisma Movement – a youth-led non-profit organisation – I was assigned to SK Tumunda Salimandut, a rural school in the Tandek neighbourhood of Kota Marudu, Sabah.
Joining me to help the pupils and teachers at the school in any way we could over the course of a week were 11 other student volunteers from across the nation.
Our daily schedule was an exciting combination of indoor and outdoor learning.
Our typical day in the school began with the bell chiming at 7.20am – a signal for us to enter the classes and start our lessons.
We taught English, Mathematics and Science to pupils in Years Three to Six, mostly communicating with them in Bahasa Malaysia as they were more familiar with the language.
Once lessons ended in the afternoon, we began our project activities, which varied each day.
On some days, we played sports with the pupils while on others, we taught both the pupils and their teachers how to make use of computer software.
An activity that I recall with fond memories was taking the pupils staying at the school’s hostel on an “outdoor classroom” trip.
Outdoor classroom: Jonathan introducing the pupils to simple scientific concepts using real-life examples.
Using examples around the school such as a mimosa bush, a river and an anthill, I explained simple scientific concepts related to nature and ecosystems.
The children were engrossed in the lesson, which felt extremely rewarding to me.
In the evenings after dinner was served, we organised simple games for the pupils at the hostel.
These were not done merely for fun as we made sure to incorporate lessons like the importance of teamwork and chasing after one’s aspirations.
At around 9.30pm, we sent the children to bed and then headed back to our quarters for a team meeting before calling it a day.
Capturing the attention of pupils, especially during lessons, was a challenge. In the many Science classes I taught, I used real-life examples and pictures on my phone to pique their interests.
I also emphasised the applicability of science in daily aspects of life; using constellations to tell directions especially fascinated the pupils.
Around me, my teammates employed equally creative methods. During English lessons, some used tongue-twisters and pop songs, while others played vocabulary games – we were all eager to share our knowledge with the pupils.
Over the short week, we became close with the pupils at the hostel as we spent the most time with them outside of teaching hours.
Despite being exhausted from a day of teaching, seeing their cheerful and eager smiles when we returned to the hostel instantly dispelled our fatigue.
I tutored them in homework, helped them complete arts and crafts, and played games with them.
I grew to know a group of boys especially well and we would banter over meals. I shared pictures from my trips abroad, encouraging them to study hard so that they would have the opportunity to see more of the world.
Having grown up in Kuala Lumpur, I must say, though brief, that one week was an eye-opening – even life-changing – experience for me.
Attending school is a privilege for many of them. Most of the children at the hostel only visit their families once biweekly as they live two hours away from the school, even deep in the mountains.
Some of the other pupils wake up as early as 4am to get ready for school, and have to journey on roads which are not in good condition.
Once during the morning assembly, a boy arrived late but, to my surprise, was greeted with applause from the teachers and pupils.
Curious, I enquired about it and was told that the pupil lives close to four hours away from the school and his parents had requested for his withdrawal a week earlier. Thankfully, that did not pan out.
The facilities at the school, while better than what we volunteers had expected, are still lacking. Water shortages are hardly uncommon for the pupils at the hostel.
Furthermore, the pupils at the school rely on shoes distributed to them, and these shoes are of poor quality and come in the wrong sizes.
I witnessed disappointment on some of the pupils’ faces as they realised they had to put up with their old shoes a little longer until the next delivery arrived.
Based on my firsthand experience, I feel there is a need to address how most Malaysians in the peninsula – at least those whom I have come across – perceive pupils in rural areas.
I can attest that the pupils at the school are just as interested in their studies as those in the peninsula.
In the many classes I entered, I asked, “Do you enjoy learning?” and the answer was always an unequivocal yes. I could also see their zeal for knowledge in their attitude to learning.
Another thing I observed that the children lack is the exposure to things outside their village and the awareness that there is much more to education beyond primary and secondary schooling.
For that reason, the other volunteers and I spent our time talking to the children about our education pathways. We shared with them the universities we enrolled in and the programmes we had participated in.
We also introduced them to careers they might not have heard about, such as engineers, lawyers and photographers.
The one takeaway that impressed on me the most from this experience is that educational inequity is a real problem in Malaysia.
The distribution of resources to schools in the country is uneven, hence not every child has the same learning opportunities.
Imagine how much more would the pupils at SK Tumunda Salimandut and other rural schools be able to know about the outside world if the same opportunities and resources accorded to pupils in the cities were accorded to them as well?
I highly encourage everyone reading this to volunteer and help wherever you can to tackle educational inequity.
The warmth I had felt from being able to inspire the next generation of this country is simply indescribable.
I would like to acknowledge the teachers at SK Tumunda Salimandut for receiving my teammates and me warmly and treating us as part of a larger family; Charisma Movement for allowing me to be a project leader for this incredible initiative; and my amazing team for our time spent together.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to the pupils for welcoming this team of abangs and kakaks into their lives and for being lightbulbs of cheerfulness to us.
Thank you for being an inspiration to us; we will always be praying for your success.
Initiated in 2012, Project Anak Malaysia aims to promote the importance of education and health by conducting lessons and workshops for primary school pupils at local schools.
Jonathan, 20, a Malaysian student in the United Kingdom, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team.
Now that you have read the article, test your understanding by carrying out the following English language activities.
1 Imagine that you were one of the volunteers at the rural school. How would you conduct an English language lesson to the Years Three to Six pupils using The Star newspaper? Brainstorm with your activity partner.
2 Identify at least five verbs used in the article. Then, use a marker pen to block out the words. Ask your activity partner to guess the missing verbs. Did he or she manage to find the exact (or suitable) replacements?
3 Study one of the photographs on this page. Could you label all the items (nouns) in the photograph? For example, “sky”, “cloud”, “grass”. To add to the challenge, come up with an adjective to describe each noun. For example, “blue sky”, “puffy clouds”, “lush grass”. Challenge your activity partner to do this task; the one who got the most nouns (and suitable adjectives) wins!
Since 1997, The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) programme has supported English language teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools nationwide. Now in its 25th year, Star-NiE is continuing its role of promoting the use of English language through a weekly activity page in StarEdu. In addition, Star-NiE’s BRATs Young Journalist Programme will continue to be a platform for participants to hone and showcase their English language skills, as well as develop their journalistic interests and instincts. Follow our updates at facebook.com/niebrats. For Star-NiE enquiries, email starnie@thestar.com.my.
