.jpg "Children are seen playing at Kampung Orang Asli Busut Baru in Banting, near the Kuala Langat forest reserve February 20, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Shafwan Zaidon")
TAPAH, May 15 — Being a teacher in the interior areas especially in Orang Asli settlements requires one to be creative and innovative in ensuring that the students get education and knowledge.
With that in mind, Muhammad Aisham Azahar, 29, an English Language teacher with Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Pos Gedong, Bidor here has taken advantage of the leeway given during the Conditional Movement (CMCO) to meet up with his pupils from the Orang Asli community.
He prints the schoolwork for the students so that they are not left behind in their studies since the first term school holidays began on March 14, followed by the movement control order (MCO) which has lasted until May 12.
“I printed the learning materials, including the English-Malay dictionary and sent them to the students’ homes, especially those in Year Five and Six, who live near the school.
“School work is not given every day, but it has to be completed in one week when I go back to collect and correct them before pointing out the students their mistakes,” he told Bernama here recently.
Perak-born Muhammad Aisham said for the last six years, he has been riding his motorcycle for 20 kilometres or about 30 minutes each day along the bad roads from Bidor to SK Pos Gedong where there are 85 students, 13 teachers and two staffers.
Muhammad Aisham said the residents in the settlement are from the Semai tribe and speak Semai, Malay, and some English.
“I do not want them to forget their lessons and it is possible to print their school work as there are not many of them, they do not have internet access and in fact, they have to use lamps or depend on electricity from a generator set,” Muhammad Aisham, a graduate of the Teachers’ Training Institute in the Tuanku Bainun Campus, Penang, said.
Meanwhile, fellow teacher Mohamad Ridzuan who has been travelling from Tapah Road to SK Pos Gedang for the past five years, said nothing gives teachers greater joy than to see their students benefiting from what has been taught to them.
“My hope is that my students keep on studying and I am sure they miss their school sessions,” he said. — Bernama
