SMS Kelantan as I Remember

This is a collection of stories and old photos of me, friends, teachers and events during my secondary school years (1975-79) at SMS Kelantan, which is now known as Sek Men Sains Tengku Muhammad Faris Putra. The school itself was started in 1973, and moved to the new campus in 1974 (you'll see grassless field in some pix!)

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Cikgu Faridah

Cikgu Faridah was the only teacher in the school who has spent ALL her career life in the school (from 1974 all the way to 2004 when she finally retired!). Any student who studied at any time during this period would remember this petit dame. She declined any promotion that requires her to be transfered to a different school. She has even taught some students whose parents she taught in the 70s!

I was lucky to have been taught by her in 1978 (while I was in form 4). What I remember most about her was that she handled the Biasiswa Kecil Petronas (4 of us from the class of 79 received it). When I was in Form 5 (1079) she no longer taught us. So, whenever she called us, I would know that it was time to get some pocket money from Petronas :-)

In 1979, Cikgu was given the task to look for students to represent the school in the Kuiz Geografi, organised by the Geography Club, Universiti Malaysia. In those days most of us were not competitive, so nobody was interested to offer himsel/herself to compete.

I think Cikgu must have been quite desperate, that she called Mazlin (Prof, UKM), Hassamudin (Senior Researcher MPOB) and me to represent the school. ALL three of us declined, citing our inferiority, saying that we were not that good (actually we were not sure if we could do well, since the quiz was opened to studnets up to Form 6, where as wewere only in Form 5). Our Sixth formers then were all science students and they did not do any Geography anymore, so the school had to get competitors among the fifth formers (i.e us).

Cikgu, with the sweet smile and soft voice said to us "kalau awak tak mau masuk, saya tak bagi duit biasiswa......" (if you do not agree to enter, i will not give you your scholarship), while holding the money!! Well, even in those days, money rules!! So, desperately wanting to get hold of the money, we reluctantly agreed.

It turned out that for the state level competition, we came out champion, beating the sixth formers from other well known schools in Kota Bharu!! Hence, wewere chosen to respresent the state for the national level!! We couldn't believe it ourselves.

In that year, the school policy was that if any of the students wins some competition at the state or district level, the school itself would gift its reward. The reward for winning the quiz was RM10 (to be used to buy useful items). I used my 'reward money' to but the novel that was hot that year, "saga", which had won the annual literature award.

When we went to collect the reward money, cikgu managed to say to us "kan.... boleh pun....." (see... you could do it!).

The national level quiz was done during the 2nd term holidays, in Univ Malaya. It's so happened that it was on the same day as the Final round of Malay Debate for the Prime Minister's Trophy. We didn't win the quiz (there were teams from other boarding schools; if my memory is right, there were RMC, SMSPP, MCKK, I think..).

For the debate final, though we have already lost to STF in the semi-final in SDAR, we attended the final never the less. Mazlin went up the stage to receive the (supposedly) certificates of participation but until TODAY I have yet to receive it!! I think it never reached our school! :-(

Back to Cikgu, when she was about to retire in 2004, the alumni association, SEMESTA, managed to collect enough money to present to her some parting gifts in the form of gold chain and bracelet. It was really nothing compared to what she has given/taught. Unfortunately, when the alumni had the "Kembali ke Sekolah" (Back to School) event I was not able to attend - I was in Tokyo for a 7-week training on e-learning! It was during that event that the toke nwas presented to her. Her x-students recited poems dedicated to her!

Anywa,y cikgu, thank you very much for your lessons and guidance!

3 Comments:

  • At August 10, 2007 4:07 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    excellent blog. excellent writings. and it is great that u still remember all those memories.

    yupe, i remember the petite cikgu faridah. i think she was teaching me geography.

    keep the blog up and pls never let it die.

    bazuki muhammad, class of 1982.

     
  • At August 10, 2007 4:08 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    any chance of pic of cikgu faridah.

     
  • At August 16, 2008 9:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    cikgu hajah faridah abdul hamid --> my beloved mentor ever! we called her 'ummi'. such a caring and dedicated teacher, with very neat handwriting too. i cannot forget the moment where, during an examination that was held in Dewan Besar, she came and whispered to me and then to hidayah, waqi and bashirul - asking us to go to her room after the exam. i thought she wanted to scold me or something because i had to admit that i didnt really do well in the last BM paper. but, it turned out that she wanted us to represent the school in Kuiz Sastera. i felt quite reluctant because the previous week, i had just participate in Kuiz Sains Nasional (managed to get 1st place at state level but only got 3rd place at Zon Timur). but, as she was persuading us and we didnt have the heart to disappoint her,we agreed to take part. and Alhamdulillah,in the preliminary round, we managed to get the highest mark but during the final round at state level, we got 3rd place. ^^, what a memory! from the prize money that we received, we bought cikgu faridah a frame <-- if i not mistaken..and presented it to her during assembly when we supposedly to get our certificates and prizes for the competition.

    p/s: ooppss..sorry kak saba. amek space banyak sangat. ter'excited'pulak. hehe.

     

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