The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Assalamu 'Alaikum

The Pandemonium of Day One at School

Gone are the days when mum and dad or granny and grandpa would wait for weeks on end with the standard one child at their first days at school. I recalled my own granny from Lenggong stayed for at least a week with me at Pasar Road English Primary School Kuala Lumpur before I was confident enough to be on my own at school. It was understandable though for I had grown up with her and granddad far away in Perak before making the what I thought was a manly decision to come and live with my family and go to school in Kuala Lumpur. I still remember fondly my first teacher Miss Vimaladevi; and I still remember gleefully how I aced the city kids in the end of year standard one exam. There were no kindergartens in Lenggong Perak back then but I had the personal attention of two retired great school teachers in the likes of granny and grandpa who must have tutored me well.

Today we hardly see the crying kids on day one of school; kindergartens have braced them not to fear school anymore. I remembered sending Zahir off to his first day at Kindergarten no further than the house gate as he jumped into the school van with elder sisters Adlin and Adila. Zahir hardly looked back to wave goodbye to his mum and dad, eager to start his preschool. Today the pandemonium doesn’t happen with kids; it’s actually confined to the parents. Arriving at Zahir’s school the second day of the new year to attend the school’s standard one orientation day we saw parents almost bumping into street lights as they videocammed their child’s first walk into the school gate. Cameras were flashing everywhere like a paparazzi’s annual gathering as parents take pictures of their kids in school uniform. We were a little bit guilty of that also with Zahir although slightly less picture taking compared to Adlin and Adila a few years ago when they went to kindergarten in that foreign land. Kids first had to assemble in the courtyard while the entertaining headmistress with a microphone kept the kids alert with endless chatter and words of encouragement. Again it was the parents who were overexcited whilst I’m sure I saw one or two kids yawned. I wondered why some parents raised laptops towards their kids until my wife nudged me and said that that was actually an Ipad and the parents were actually taking pictures of their kids with it. Well what do I know, my education with technology stopped at IPhones.

The parents then gathered at the school hall which was actually the ground floor of a school block without walls but with ceiling fans. We were briefed on KSSR, Linus and JQaf. I missed Adila’s standard one orientation a couple of years ago and had always wondered why they were quoting Charlie Brown’s pal Linus at school. For those who are not enlightened KSSR is not the name of a new country in the Balkans and JQaf is not a new washing powder brand. Linus is a program that ensures the kids’ literacy and numeracy; and KSSR is the new primary school curriculum to replace KBSR where UPSR exams will only count for 60% of marks; 40% to come from schoolwork, or what the grownups will call coursework. I didn’t remember too much about JQaf but I recalled the Ustaz* thanking the previous prime minister for raising the importance of the Arabic language and Islamic education with JQaf.

With Agama* school in the morning and Kebangsaan* school in the afternoon for Adila and Zahir, and the reverse for Adlin being in standard four now, we knew we had to have the house gate semi permanently opened as endless streams of school vans will come and go, to pick up and deliver the school children throughout the day. We worked out there was a gap mid-afternoon when all are at school and not expected home for a few hours where mum and dad could slip out to Giant for a quiet  afternoon shopping and tea. That’s what we did and returned home to greet Adlin at the house gate. Zahir and Adila will be home by 7 pm and we called it a day, thankful for a successful first school day. That was when we got a call from Jamil the school van driver that Zahir and Adila were nowhere to be seen for the home trip from Kebangsaan school.

Sensing I should do something I half drove and half walked with Adlin to school to avoid the school jam and check out on the missing kids. We have briefed Adila to pick her younger brother from class for the walk to the school van so we were confident of bumping into them somewhere outside the school. Our hearts sanked when they were nowhere to be found, neither in class nor outside the school. I called Jamil to go on and send the other kid homes as there was no point in him staying on.

Wife called the Agama school whose van we used to send the kids to Kebangsaan school and they said they will call all vans just in case Zahir and Adila went into the wrong van. The Kebangsaan school now almost deserted I drove to Agama school to get news first hand. My heart sank further as one by one the van drivers reported that the missing children were not in their van. I was gradually slipping from the calm father to the berserk father mode when Jamil sheepishly called the school and reported apologetically that the kids were actually in his van all the time but he could not see them from his driver’s seat. Adila later reported that she called out yes when Uncle Jamil called her name but the big girl upfront blocked her view and voice. We put it down to tired kids and an inexperienced new school van driver. Alhamdulillah* all’s well that ends well; praise be to Allah that always creates little incidents for us to be thankful for mundane things He grants, like kids coming home safely from school. As I left the Agama school premises with Adlin to greet the missing siblings at home there was another father who was still pacing the school lounge waiting for news of his still missing child. We du’a* all’s well that ends well for him as well. We always tell our kids school is fun; it’s actually adventurous for parents as well, with roller coasters of emotions thrown in. Alhamdulillah.

Wassalam,
Zahid

*Note: Ustaz = religious teacher
            Agama school = religious school
            Kebangsaan school = national school
            Alhamdulillah = Praise be to Allah
            Du'a = pray
            UPSR exams = end of primary school exams