The precious gift of education

Many students may not have plans after graduation but it’s okay to blossom later and achieve even more to make up for lost time.

I’VE enjoyed attending graduation ceremonies in this end of year period: as a year with highs and lows comes to a close, it’s uplifting to meet young people optimistic about pursuing their dreams.

The 2023 graduation ceremony for Ideas Autism Centre (IAC) was held at NU Sentral Mall – a regular supporter of our efforts – on Dec 9. Kids and teachers performed music and dance befitting the season, and the mall made it ‘snow’ (soap bubbles!) with great effect. There was also an educational element for passers-by who stayed to learn more about autism, and in particular, why a public policy think tank would establish an autism centre.

That latter part is simple: it’s because an education research project we conducted concluded there was insufficient provision of specialised care for children from the most economically disadvantaged households and yet, early intervention was consistently cited as the best way for children on the autism spectrum to live an independent life later on.

So we decided to see if it was possible for a civil society organisation to build partnerships (such as with Yayasan Sime Darby, our strategic partner) to deliver that in a sustainable way. (This is similar to how Ideas Academy – now Ideas International School, offering the IGCSE curriculum to children including refugees at affordable prices – was founded.)

Now, after 11 years of operations at our Rawang centre (with our Nilai centre opening last year) it’s been wonderful to see successive cohorts of children from B40 families be sufficiently prepared to enter secondary schools.

It’s delightful talking to parents, who say that IAC has transformed their families for the better. Not only do the children get education and therapy, but the parents are able to work as a result.

The credit should go to our wonderful teachers led by the indefatigable Sharifah Salleh who is principal of IAC. With her knowledge and experience in high demand, we now have seven IAC Affiliate centres (i.e. using our pedagogy and curriculum) including in Langkawi, Muar, Ipoh and Kuala Pilah.

The other graduation ceremonies I attended were a bit grander.

I accompanied my parents – my father being the Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), my mother being that of the Islamic Science University of Malaysia (Usim), and my brother being Pro-Chancellor of both – to their convocation ceremonies. Both had their fanfares, robes, processions – and some wonderful singing of Malay ballads – but what’s common to all is the happy faces of those collecting their degrees.

Although it was a brief moment many years ago, I remember well shaking the hands of the Director of LSE to collect my BSc: it was a milestone. With that in mind, I’ve tried to engage in brief conversations with the people who collect their degrees from me: what they intend to do next, or what their sport or instrument is (depending on the subject being awarded).

I remember the outstanding Nepali student at ICAN College going on to become a nurse, and the musical scholars of the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation studying at Sunway University who share the same favourite composers as me.

I gave thousands of scrolls to students graduating from UCSI University, and recall how so many just wanted to serve the nation. A special experience was the convocation for medical students at the new UCSI Hospital in Port Dickson which was held outdoors: the first cohort of many that hopefully will, as the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan said at the formal launch of the hospital a week later, contribute to greatly enhancing healthcare provision in the state.

Of course in some cases such optimistic appraisals may be hyperbole. Many students do not, in fact, have grand plans after graduation. They may feel lost, fearful of entering the job market, anxious that the skills they have acquired are not relevant, or worried that the diploma or degree they have obtained is not as valuable as they had hoped. And yet, it is okay still to blossom later in life: indeed many who do so, do so with even more passion and conviction, and achieve even more, propelled by the feeling of having wasted time previously.

There were two profoundly sad moments. At the IAC graduation, a parent spoke of the suspected murder of Zayn Rayyan, a six-year old autistic boy. “That could have been any one of our kids,” she said, emphasising how important the services of IAC are. And at the USIM graduation, the Palestinian Ambassador, Walid Abu Ali, accepted posthumous degrees on behalf of two students killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Such tragedies reminded those present of the precious gift of education, and the responsibility to use that gift for the greater good while one still can.

Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin is founding president of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.