1,000 at farewell dinner for retiring education officer

SIBU: A farewell dinner was held last Sunday at Kingwood Hotel here for Sibu Divisional Education Officer Wong Chung Kung who officially retired on Nov 17, as well as to celebrate his birthday.

Close to 1,000 staffers from the Education Department, principals and teachers from various schools in Sibu, Kanowit and Selangau turned up.

Speaking at the dinner, Wong urged all educators to always remember the three principles in promoting education, namely `Upholding human dignity’, `Potentiality’ and `Ability to be educated’.

“As educators, we want to be able to raise the dignity of our students under our care. We can do this by giving the best education to our students,” he explained.

As for ` Potentiality’, he said it means that every educator must see every student as someone with potential, whether academically or in co- curricular activities,” he added.

He said if they could not see the potential in every student, then they would fail in raising the dignity of their students.

He also said that every student can be taught and it depends on the approach and the teaching method.

“I didn’t experience any difficulties in solving problems in my nine years in office because of the great teamwork among all quarters,” he enthused

The dinner was jointly organized by Persatuan Pengetua Sekolah Menengah Sekolah Sibu ( PPSMS) and Majlis Guru Besar ( MGB) with Sibu Education Office.

The organising chairman for the function Yong Choo Tiong, who is also PPSMS chairman, described Wong as a good officer who was dedicated to his job.

Yong said under Wong’s leadership, the performance of schools in Sibu had seen all-round improvements.