PETALING JAYA, Oct 19 — Covid-19 means class field trips are out of the question but that did not stop a resourceful teacher in rural Sarawak from letting his students take a dip in a sky-blue “swimming pool.”
Muhammad Nazmi Rosli, 27, used 200 blue plastic bags to build the “pool” as a way of teaching his students in Lawas about the importance of following safety rules and regulations.
He shared photos of the finished project on Twitter which showed his Standard Three pupils smiling gleefully as they “floated” on the make-believe pool while some sat on benches with towels wrapped around their heads.
“This is the life of a teacher in a rural area. Whatever can be used will be turned into teaching materials,” wrote Muhammad Nazmi.
I made a swimming pool using 200 pieces of plastic bags. 😍
— Muhammad Nazmi (@chuckee_little) October 17, 2020
Ni la life cikgu2 Pedalaman. Apa2 yg boleh di pakai, bedal saja pakai utk mengajar. 😂 pic.twitter.com/lkwtNfiTEy
The 27-year-old also reassured environmentally-conscious Twitter users that the plastic bags were not thrown away immediately after the students were done with the pool.
“I use the plastic bags once a week to throw rubbish away and I bought them in bulk because it is difficult to commute in and out of rural areas.
“We didn’t have any blue fabric to use for the pool so we had to use the plastic bags, and I kept them afterwards to reuse them for their intended purpose,” Muhammad Nazmi said in the Twitter thread.
The English teacher told Astro Gempak that being an educator at a rural school can be extremely challenging due to the lack of facilities.
However, this has pushed him to be more creative when it comes to finding teaching materials without relying on electricity or Internet access.
“At first, I was jealous of my friends who managed to get teaching jobs in the city as they can access more advanced education platforms and online learning.
“But in the long run, I feel like I am the right fit for this school because there are many upsides to turning discarded materials into teaching tools that can benefit students here,” Muhammad Nazmi was quoted as saying.
This isn’t the first time Muhammad Nazmi has stepped outside the box to get his students excited about learning.
He previously built a “train station” by creatively stacking and arranging tables and chairs so his pupils, who had never sat on a train before, could get a glimpse of what it’s like to travel onboard the vehicle.
Muhammad Nazmi even went the extra mile by printing make-believe tickets with destinations on them as well as a seating chart and safety rules for his students to follow.
