So I recently joined the Re:ed project, something that HELP University is a part of with a few other Teach For Malaysia members. What we do is, volunteer to teach weaker students in SMK Tengku Idris Shah in Kapar, Selangor.
I've attended only 2 sessions so far and I'm teaching English to a few fourteen years old girls. Every time when we are done for the day, the pioneer/ founder of this program sort of, will say a few encouraging words and thank us for helping out because he's really down with volunteers at this moment.
I heard him say those words twice already. And it's quite saddening actually because these kids will come to school, not pay attention in classes, fight with their friends and the cycle just repeats every single day. Then there are those notorious ones who will join gangs and do just about everything but study.
But there are also students who want to study but they just don't understand what the heck is going on in class. These are students we hope to help.
They are waaaayy behind in their studies. Like the girls whom I'm 'tutoring' now, they're actually still reading storybooks with one big picture and just a sentence in a page. What shocks me even more is that they can sometimes pronounce and read the words in the books but they don't necessarily understand the meaning of the sentence. I can try speaking to them in English and asking them simple questions but they're too shy to respond back in English. And I know that they understand what I'm saying because they can translate it in Malay!
Today, however we played the game 'Stack Up' (?) and I could see some improvements in them. These little improvements and their interest plus effort to come to school every Saturday to study, however small it is, for me, it says something. Maybe their future is not so bleak after all. Maybe the efforts that the volunteers put in will not go to waste after all.
Another reason that they fall behind in class is because of the distractions caused by other kids. Bored kids. I'm not trying to be sexist but these kids are usually the male kids. We were brought to tour around the school just now and believe me when I say that this is the first time I see bent ceiling fan blades and the legs of the plastic tables being ripped apart. Even the metal gates were partially destroyed. These students even tried to burn down the back of the class!
I thought I saw the worse when I was in Form 6 in a co-ed school but this is beyond, way beyond what I expected.
It's unbelievable what these 14 years old boys can do. Imagine what they will be like in a few years if this kind of attitude persists.
Then it comes the question, who is to blame for all of these? Honestly, I don't know because it is debatable. But hey, nobody's pointing finger at anybody now.
Conclusion is, we can try to help them as much as possible, but at the end of the day if they don't try to help themselves then everything will just be for nothing. So I'm happy to see some familiar faces who come to class in hopes of getting something in the 2 hours we spend with them. I wish that we can find more volunteers so that these students can be personally tutored instead of doing it in pair or in a group of four.
So if your university has a similar program like this, go and volunteer! For me, it means sacrificing about 4-5 hours of my Saturdays. But I find it really beneficial also because along the way I'm improving my Bahasa :)
Do good and God blesses you in ways you cannot imagine.
