KUALA LUMPUR – Sarawakian teacher Muhammad Nazmi Rosli, who was today awarded the Malaysia Teacher Prize, inspired many with his acceptance speech when he recounted the challenges faced teaching English to rural students.
The SK Long Sebangang teacher described his early days on the job in June 2017, where all 17 of his students failed a midterm English test involving a “simple” essay asking to describe one’s experience of having a picnic by the beach with their family.
“It took some time for me to realise that my kids (students) were simply disconnected from the outside world.
“They couldn’t write an essay about a picnic, because they had never seen a beach before. I grabbed scissors, glue, and looked around my school for any unused cardboard, plastic bottles and recycled materials. I stayed in the classroom till late at night, trying to recreate the outside world for them,” he said in his acceptance speech.
The awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur was organised by Pemimpin GSL and attended by Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, who announced Nazmi as the winner.
Nazmi described how he recreated various environments for his students who had never experienced the things urban children take for granted.
“They had never been to a bakery before, so I built one using boxes and some clay to make little cute biscuits and cookies. They had never been to a swimming pool before, so I built one using 200 plastic bags.
“I’ve built an aeroplane cabin, a train station, a pet shop, a zoo, a hospital and many more for them,” he said.
By 2019, his students were placed in the top 10 for the English Paper 2 results in the UPSR.
Chosen by 90 judges, Nazmi won an RM50,000 cash prize while the other top-four finalists each received RM5,000.
Nazmi said in a press conference later that he would use the RM50,000 cash prize for a club he founded, the Filpen Club, which uses film-making to address issues faced by schools, students, teachers and local communities.
Passion and perseverance
One of the top-five finalists, physical education teacher Kathiresan Moorthy from SK Mahmud in Pahang, told Scoop how hard he had to work to become a teacher.
He began teaching late, age-wise, as he had to retake the SPM seven times before becoming a temporary teacher.
Later, he was able to enter the Education Ministry’s Institute of Teacher Education and was finally able to become a full-fledged teacher.
“I feel very fortunate, as the 10 finalists are very great. I didn’t expect to get into the top five. I don’t think our ranking was based on the ranking (of who’s better), but it’s because of our contribution and the prayers from our children that I was successful in being one of the top five today,” he said.
Kathiresan’s students include Orang Asli and rural children who struggle with academic work and prefer playing games instead. He said he has developed creative teaching activities that have helped his students improve their grades in just six months, from 20% to 85%.
Another teacher in the top five, Stefanus Lucas, teaches music education to students with disabilities in SK Pendidikan Khas Tuaran in Sabah.
“Most people think that OKU (students with disabilities) cannot sing or play instruments, but we have proven that we can. We can change the stigma that people have (towards) OKU people, who can achieve what they want to achieve,” he told Scoop.
Stefanus’ advice to other teachers is to keep their focus on their students and not chase recognition.
“When the focus is on the students, every simple thing that a student is able to do will make teachers go ‘wow’.”
The other top-five finalists present were Islamic studies teacher Jumisara Chamili from SK Bandar in Johor, and English teacher Ahmad Shahrul Azhan Ibrahim from SMK Long Ghafar 2 in Kelantan. – November 5, 2023