Education

Sunday March 4, 2007

100 years of memories

By KAREN CHAPMAN

Once a school with only an attap roof, bamboo walls and a dirt floor, SK Pantai Besar has indeed come a long way. The Education Ministry has plans to improve the English proficiency of pupils in this rural school.

It seemed like the whole village had come to a standstill forthe centenary celebrations of SK Pantai Besar in Batu Kurau, Perak, held recently. There is now a paved road leading to the village, located some 40km from Taiping, but this was not always the case. As former pupil Datuk Tajudin Ali recalls, the village was quite isolated, back in 1929, when he was a student there. There was no proper road then, just a dirt track.

“At that time, the school was surrounded by jungle which had tigers and elephants,” says the Umno Veterans Club chairman, now 85.

Tajudin, who also served as Larut MP and was a Perak state executive councillor, remembers studying subjects like Jawi, Rumi (Writing), History, Geography and Mathematics at the school.

English was not taught then; it was only when he attended SMK King Edward VII in Taiping that he learnt the language.

The original SK Pantai Besar in Batu Kurau (above) and as it is today (below).
His friend whom he affectionately calls his younger brother, Mat Saman Awang Besar, 82, says there were no uniforms, so pupils wore their baju Melayu to school.

“There were no shoes too,” he chuckles.

TAJUDIN: The school was once surrounded by jungle inhabited by tigers and elephants.
The early days

The first SK Pantai Besar, then known as Sekolah Melayu Nendering, was set up in 1905, thanks largely to the efforts of Mohd Ali Pandak and Alang Umar Mat Saman. The two men, recognising the importance of education even in an area as isolated as Batu Kurau, got together with the rest of the villagers to build a school, using local raw materials.

The school looked like a typical village home except that it was divided into two areas so that two classes could be held simultaneously. It had an attap roof, walls made from bamboo and a dirt floor. There were no chairs or tables; the pupils sat on mats on the floor.

Tajudin recalls how he could hear what was taught in the next class.

“There was a wall separating us but it did not run all the way up to the ceiling, so we could hear everything in the other room,” he says.

The school was renamed Sekolah Melayu Pantai Besar in 1934, and Sekolah Umum Pantai Besar in 1957. Three years later, it was given its present name SK Pantai Besar.

“There was no electricity or piped water in the school in the 1960s,” says former pupil Jalaludin Othman, who is now director of Policy and Sports Development in the Education Ministry.

“And the road leading to the school was not paved, so it was muddy. I used to walk barefoot to school, carrying my shoes around my neck, and only put on my shoes when I reached the school,” he recalls.

Not everyone could afford shoes then either – these were usually Fung Keong shoes or shoes made by the pupils’ fathers. As the walls of the school were made of bamboo, classes could not be held during the rainy season.

“There were no glass panes, so whenever it rained, the teacher had to remove the plank which kept the windows open to stop the rain coming in. This meant we were left in darkness.

“Everyone would end up playing instead since no classes could be held,” Jalaludin reminisces.

Like family

MAT SAMAN: We wore baju Melayu to school as there were no uniforms then.
Although the first SK Pantai Besar had limited facilities, the teachers were passionate about teaching.

“Teachers like Osman Ismail, Kalsom Bee, Cikgu Yaharudin and Cikgu Adnan made our lessons fun and interesting. It couldn’t have been easy for them but they made the best of everything,” says Jalaludin.

“The teachers even gave tuition at night, using a kerosene lamp for light.”

In return, Jalaludin and his friends would collect firewood for the teachers, who lived in the village, and help them get water from nearby wells.

“That provided us with an opportunity to practise our English,” he shares.

Inti International College senior director (Academic Studies) Dr Zulkiply Omar was also a former pupil of the school. He recalls the excitement when multiple-choice questions were first introduced; he was in either Year Five or Six at that time.

“My friends and I had to get 2B pencils; we searched all over for them as they were difficult to get in the village in the 1960s.”

Wan Esah Wan Sulaiman, who is now in her 80s, remembers that her schooling was interrupted during the Japanese Occupation.

“Those were difficult times – there was no food, so we didn't go to school,” she says.

WAN ESAH: Schooling was interrupted by the Japanese Occupation.
Once the war was over, she continued her studies and later became a teacher at the school.

“My teachers were very hardworking and did their best to instil a love for education in us. I wanted to do the same.

“I taught Mathematics, Bahasa Melayu and Geography for about 30 years,” she says.

Many changes

SK Pantai Baru has come a long way since those early days. Many changes have taken place and more are in the pipeline.

When Ahmad Sobri Halim first transferred from Sabah to the school 12 years ago, the English passes among his pupils was around 9%.

“I don’t blame them. There was little chance for them to use the language and most were too shy to speak it.

“What I tried to do as their English teacher was to introduce activities and language games to motivate them to speak English,” he explains, adding the pass rate is presently about 56%.

When Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein visited the school recently in conjunction with its centenary celebrations, he announced that it had been selected to participate in the Early Literacy Through English (ELiTE) programme.

This programme aims to help pupils in selected rural schools gain a stronger foundation in the English language, said Education Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Ahamad Sipon in an earlier report.

“The pilot project is currently being carried out in 48 national schools, five Chinese national-type schools and two Tamil national-type schools in Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Pahang and Perak,” said Hishammuddin.

The school also underwent a facelift when a request for a new building, forwarded to the Education Ministry in 1979, bore fruit. In September 1986, the Government, under the Fourth Malaysia Plan, built three new blocks worth RM400,000.

“The pupils moved into the new school premises in July 1987,” says headmaster Abdul Malik Tan.

“However, we may convert the old school building into a museum.”

Presently, the school has 288 pupils – 145 boys and 143 girls – as well as 19 teachers. Its computer laboratories are used as a resource centre for teachers in the Batu Kurau Zone.

“Although we are a rural school, we have produced many pupils who have gone on to serve the community in various ways.

“Besides Datuk Tajudin Ali and Jalaudin Othman, our ‘old boys’ also include former federal CID director Datuk Fauzi Saari,” says Abdul Malik.

Related Stories:
Still squatting
Moving to the fore
Helping themselves

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story