First day jitters hit pupils and parents

Keeping a close eye: Parents watching their children at the main hall of SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1) in Kuala Lumpur. — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star

KAJANG: While many Year One pupils feel excited about attending school, others are anxious about going to an unfamiliar place.

One of them was a boy at SK Bangi who cried and held on to his father tightly, not wanting to enter the classroom yesterday morning.

Damia Zafeerah, a Year Five pupil at the same school, woke up half an hour earlier than usual because she was excited to go back to school.

“I normally wake up at 6am, but today I got up early to get ready.

“I like Bahasa Melayu and Mathematics. I cannot wait for classes to start and to see my friends, ” said the eldest of two siblings.

A Year Four pupil who only wanted to be known as Aiman had pisang goreng for breakfast.

Sharply dressed and hair neatly combed, Aiman was one of the first pupils to arrive at the school.

Mother-of-two Khatijah Hasanah, 37, was anxious as she sat in the school’s canteen to accompany her eldest son Umar Afif Khairul Azmir, who had previously attended a private school.

“My husband and I have prepared him mentally. We told him that it was going to be a new environment with new teachers and friends.

“We moved him to a national school because there were issues with some teachers and the timetabling system in his former school, ” said Khatijah, a psychiatrist.

In Klang, Farhana Zainal and her husband Mohd Rizal Aziz accompanied their daughter Nur Qaseh Qaleesia on her first day at the school.

“I am living my dreams through my daughter, ’’ said Farhana when met at SJK(C) Pandamaran A near here.

When Farhana was a child, she had wanted to attend a Chinese school, but was not given a chance to do so.

She strongly believed that mastering Chinese could give her child an added advantage as the language was widely used worldwide.

“It is for her future. We are aware that in order to be successful, she must also know Chinese in addition to English and Bahasa Malaysia, ’’ said Farhana, a clerk with a forwarding company.

Mohd Rizal, a general office assistant at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said discipline in Chinese schools was good and they had dedicated teachers.Hasnani Hassan also enrolled her daughter Nurhana Afiqa Hadif in the same school because of the discipline factor.

“I have a close Chinese friend whose children attend a Chinese school and their conduct and behaviour is good, ” said Hasnani, who also sent Nurhana Afiqa to a Chinese kindergarten.

Christina Anthony agreed that acquiring Chinese as a third language would help her daughter Deepashiri Yogaselan.

“A Chinese education can help secure easy passage for my daughter in her future endeavours, ’’ she added.

SJK(C) Pandamaran board of governors chairman Datuk Teh Meng Huat said there were 19 non-Chinese pupils enrolled in Year One this year.

Out of the 19, six were Indians and the remaining 13 were Malays.

Dr Maszlee Malik, who resigned as Education Minister, said an estimated total of 4.67 million students (primary and secondary) attended the first day of school.

Schools reopened in all states yesterday except for Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, where over 130,000 Year One pupils showed up when schools there reopened on Wednesday.

According to the Education Ministry’s website, there will be 198 school days and 75 holidays this year.