Meja Kampung

Asal perancangan saya bertolak malam semalam (Rabu) tetapi dek kehabisan tiket bas menuju ke utara, saya terpaksa membelasah apa-apa tiket yang ada di Hentian K. Syukurnya hanya ada satu seat untuk saya bagi Bas Etika untuk menuju ke utara. Alhamdulillah. Kemudian terus saya mengisi borang cuti untuk hari Rabu.

Perjalanan semalam sangat panjang, memang tidak dinafikan KL ke Kangar bukannya dekat melainkan naik kapal terbang 50 minit. Tapi kena landing kat Kedah sebab Perlis tiada lapangan terbang.Lapang sasar kapal terbang kertas ada la kat Sungai Batu Pahat. Dulu masa mula-mula saya menetap di Santan sekitar 1992, ada ura-ura mengatakan Santan akan dijadikan lapangan terbang. Mak oiii...habis orang Santan kena pindah. Mana kami semua nak pi... Mujur hanya ura-ura. Sehingga sekarang tiada lagi. Kembali kepada kisah naik bas, saya bertolak pukul 11.30 pagi, tapi keluar dari KL pukul 1.30 petang. Banyak destinasi rupanya Bas Etika ni. Kemudian pabila dah masuk Lebuhraya Utara Selatan, bawak laju semacam (saya rasa mungkin enjin bas dan ekzos bas yang bunyi kuat). Non-stop. Saya tertanya-tanya bila mau berhenti R&R. Langsung terus.

Akhirnya berhenti di R&R Taiping. Baru buka 6 hari. Kami berhenti seketika. Saya tak pasti berapa lama masa diberikan, tapi pemandu bas seolah-olah tidak berganjak dari tempat duduknya. Jam sudah 4.30, berkira-kira jamak ta'akhir. Saya rasa mesti bas takkan berhenti lagi, terus bergergas ke surau perempuan. Saya seorang. Hati gusar kalau kena tinggal. Taiping ke Kangar jauh lagi. Percepatkan ambil wuduk. Tapi hati terbayang-bayang kena tahan lori ayam lepas ni kalau kena tinggal bas. huhuhu...Kemudian sejadah dibentang, takbir diangkat serta bertawakkal sahaja.

Usai solat saya melulu lipat sejadah, buat apa yang patut pakai kasut keluar dari surau. Masa keluar serentak di surau lelaki ada penumpang lelaki menaiki bas yang sama. Fuh....alhamdulillah. Nasib lagi. Saya lihat penumpang masih berbaki di bawah. Saya sempat membeli buah untuk mengalas perut. Kemudian naik semula bas tersebut. Jangkaan saya tepat. Tiada lagi tempat yang diberhenti terus lajak ke susur ke Sungai Petani, menurunkan penumpang dan terus dan terus ke AS. Fikir saya pasti tiba di Kangar sudah Isya'.

Akhirnya 8.30 malam baru sampai nunnn stesen jauh di utara Malaysia. Sembilan jam. Lenguh pinggang cek. Setiba di rumah mak sudah menanti dengan senyuman. Saya lakukan apa yang patut terus bersiap siaga untuk bersantap. Inilah saat-saat yang terbayang dari dalam bas... sedap! suap bersuap.. Alhamdulillah. Dalam pukul 11 malam adik saya yang berkursus di Sg. Petani pulang bersama Laksa Teluk Kechai. Aduii... Kecur ayaq liuq. Terus semangkuk jadi santapan.

Dan hari ini alhamdulillah, ayah mak, adik dan saya bersama-sama berpuasa sunat wukuf di Arafah. Ya Allah.... ku syukuri nikmatMu... nikmat tinggal di Santan...

Kepada semua sahabat-handai saya, Selamat Hari Raya Eid Adha ya.

Semoga kita sentiasa memperingati kisah pengorbanan Nabi Ibrahim dan Nabi Ismail a.s serta pengorbanan wanita-wanita hebat Siti Hajar dan Sarah. Labaikallahuma labaiik..! Hati bergurindam kerna rindu terkenang Tanah Suci..

"EID MUBARAK"

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meja kampung, Santan

antara lega antara tidak

Ada 3 perkara;

1) Langsai menyediakan kertas peperiksaan untuk di"tabled"kan dalam mesyuarat jabatan.

2) Memikirkan Method yang sesuai untuk anak-anak DMiI. Mari Belajar.

3) Pulang beraya ke Santan sempena Eid-al-adha.


deng-dang pagi jumaat

Senget

Minggu ini adalah sangat indah jalan-jalan persekolahan saya. Tiada traffic jam, tiada kena berque panjang, tiada kena menunggu, tiada dad a da daa…Memang tidak dinafikan minggu lepas saya berkampung di KL dari Isnin sampai ke Rabu kemudian kembali ke sekolah pada hari Khamis. Kemudian bercuti pada hari Jumaat. Lantas pastinya minggu ini sangat padat dengan aktiviti pengajaran dan penyediaan kertas peperiksaan (ops..tak siap lagi bos….)

Dalam kepadatan dan kekalutan waktu untuk menyediakan P&P, saya merasakan kewajipan-kewajipan itu telah melebihi waktu yang ada. Hari ni bermula dengan pukul 8 pagi, terpaksa berkalut ke PTM untuk sesi peminjaman LCD. Kembali ke kelas, LCD dan laptop sudah ada namun extension pula tiada. Gergas saya mencari extension. 10 pagi, kelas pun tamat. Sepanjang koridor dari tingkat dua saya di sapa oleh para pelajar. Teguran biasa. Berbasa basi, sehingga ke tangga, salam disapa jawab diberi, senyuman dihulur dan dibalas. Tidak kurang semua yang bertembung pasti menegur.

“Apa ramai benar yang menegurku hari ini..”, hati saya berdesis perlahan. Senyum dan bahagia.

Tiba dibilik, laptop ditangan diletakkan perlahan di atas meja saya. Meluru ke cermin kecil yang sememangnya tersangkut di dinding playwood bilik saya.

“Oo… patuitla…”, ujar saya perlahan. Sambil tergelak kecil.

“Tudung cek senget..dok gawang-gawang tangan masa mengajar la ni.. macam mana la budak-budak tadi dalam kelas urm…kalau aku pasti nak tergelak” ngomel saya seorang diri sebelum pintu diketuk orang.

“Ops..ada orang mai…”

“Yes!!! Come in!”, kena tempik kuat-kuat sebab orang kat luar tak dengar…

2049
key chain ITS

ponder and wonder

Today is Saturday. By having enough rest yesterday, I hope today I will manage myself to finish my school work. Insya Allah. Actually, this week I hadd attended a conference on 6th Kuala Lumpur Islamic Finance Forum held at Nikko Hotel. And this conference is my fourth time with all prominent figures in Islamic Finance field as well as Shariah scholars. I'll share later some issues and information that had been grab during my precious time there. But what I wanna share here is that our education system in our country. I had received an email a guy (name is undisclosed) that was draw my attentions very much. And I hope by pasting his opinions on our education system, it will help us to ponder about it.

Another article by Dr. Hsu

I was told that one of the girls with the most number of A's, 17 A1's, in SPM and who is currently on a scholarship in UK to study medicine failed in her second year examination.

While passing and failing examination is part and parcel of a student's life, this case is particularly alarming, as this is supposed to be our cream of the cream. There may be other reasons why she failed , but this case typifies the trend of many of our so-called 'top scholars' failing in overseas universities.

I have mentioned before that among my daughter 's year doing medicine in University of Auckland, there were many JPA's scholars (more than 10). Only one graduated with the class. The rest have failed along the way and have to repeat the year which they have failed. Some have failed one year, passed on second attempt and then failed again in another year. It is not uncommon to have someone who failed a few times along the way.

These scholars are supposed to represent the cream of our students, and yet they struggled to get through the course.

We must find out the reasons why so many of these scholars fail when they are supposed to be the our top students.

Granted that in an examination, even a good student can do badly sometimes, but to have a disproportional high failure rate among the so called top students is alarming and cannot be attributed to 'luck' or the lack of it. Compare this with those on their fathers' scholarship, very few of the latter group failed.

Is it because our marking system is at fault? Is there any differential markings of papers? Is our education system at fault?

I think the time has come to have a thorough re-examination of the whole education as well as the examination system.

It really reflects badly on our country when scholarship holders fail in their examinations at an alarming rate.

P.S. When a scholarship holder fails and has to repeat a year, it would cost the Country a lot of money which can actually be used to finance more students for study. Scholarship holders also live a life of relative luxury, compared to self-financed students, and they normally stay in the best hostels and many of them have cars and so on… SO the whole system of awarding scholarship should be reviewed too…

If the students scores an exemplary number of distinctions (A's in Malaysia) in a public exam, they are considered the pinnacle of what the Country's education system is capable of producing. They are expected to go through tertiary education anywhere in the world with flushing success. So what could possibly have happened if they fail abroad?

Malaysia's education system has always been a laughing stock. Based purely on numeric superiority and mindless rote learning methods that even the British has long abandoned decades earlier, Malaysia continues to believe that the more A's the students attain, the better equipped they are. It doesn't matter how they get the A's so long as the aim is to get them and get as many in the process. So if the students were to labour over numerous past year exam papers in the library, memorise the answers and focus only on what the teacher 'suggests' are likely to come out for the exam, that's all right by everyone. The education system doesn't teach the students to UNDERSTAND the material. It doesn't encourage proactive teaching methods that encourage students to discover knowledge but to merely be taught.

When a student with 17 Distinctions fail in the real world, it is not a surprise. Perhaps it is to many Malaysians, but it's a system that is waiting to reward its students with spectacular failure when they leave the shores and compete overseas or when they enter the workforce. Many organisations in the private sector have continued to be horrified at the performance of such students during interviews. Communication skills are absent. Standard ethics are absent. Common courtesy codes are absent. Presentation skills as well as personal grooming are absent. What has the education system taught them?

If Malaysia continue to embark on the road of plain numeric superiority instead of to challenge the students to think, provoke them to create their own opinions and to communicate expressively, to eloquently define their standing in the world, there can never be an international leader in any field or industry emanating from Malaysia. It never produced one in the last 20 years. It never will for the next 100 years.

to ponder & wonder
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maple table's cloth