Introducing Malaysia’s Kindest School
SMK Sanzac has come a long way from its ‘notorious’ days thanks to its headmistress and teachers.
THE blue and silver confetti streaming over SMK Sanzac students Nursalwani Sabdani and Muhammad Saiful Ikhwan marked the culmination of the #StandTogether “kindness project” competition. Their team’s heartfelt and sustainable entry had beaten out nearly 120 entries to be named “Malaysia’s Kindness School”.
But it also marked a significant milestone in the school’s journey.
Just a few years ago, it was notorious in Sabah for being a “hardcore” school, said headmistress Dr Shirley Tay.
“When I first joined the school four years ago, children came to school with unhappy faces, they would jeer at anybody brave enough to speak on stage, and we had so many bullies and naughty kids,” she said.
Deeply unhappy with the school culture she faced, Tay set about changing things – beginning with the teachers.
“It was a big task,” she said. “I had to ask my teachers to change how they approached the students – with love, not with an eagle eye out to look for mistakes – and I’m very happy that they took up the challenge.
“As an educator, I know kids who act up lack love and attention so that’s what my teachers and I gave them,” said Tay.
With this new emphasis on love and empathy, the wheels of change started turning.
It’s a testament to how far the school has come that students onstage are now met with cheers, not jeers.
The school had implemented various kindness projects during the inaugural #StandTogether National Kindness Week on the first week of April.
Over 750 schools had voluntarily registered on the #StandTogether website to participate.
To empower students to take the lead during National Kindness Week, a competition was held for students to propose “kindness project” ideas. The top 30 ideas would receive RM1,000 in grant funding, and SMK Sanzac was one of the winners.
One of their projects was a Speakers’ Corner during recess, where students could share acts of kindness they had performed over the past week.
“The response was wonderful,” said Tay. “Everyone was eager to hear what acts of kindness their schoolmates had done.”
On top of that, the school held a singing competition last week – and again, the students’ new positivity and values shone.
“Even when someone made a mistake like forgetting their lyrics, the other students would shout encouragement at them. I must tell everybody about this because I’m so proud,” said Tay with a slight catch in her voice. “Sometimes I cry when I think about how they’ve come so far.”
With cyberbullying on the rise, the students also made sure to spread the positivity online through a short film competition, Act It Out. The entries were uploaded to the school’s social media accounts.
Despite all the hard work the students put in, winning the competition was far from their minds.
“We didn’t participate for the prize,” said Nursalwani. “Of course, we’re so happy that we’ve brought glory to our school, but we did it because we students also want to be kinder, better people.”
Nursalwani also noted the huge improvement in the culture among her schoolmates, thanks in part to the #StandTogether campaign.
“I can see that everyone is kinder now,” she said. “It shows in the little things. They say ‘thank you’ to the canteen staff, make a conscious effort to say nicer things to each other, and if they see someone else being mean, everybody speaks up to say ‘Hey, that’s not baik hati!’.”
This is exactly the sort of change teacher Lim Yi Wei had hoped to see when she first became teacher advisor for the school’s #StandTogether kindness project.
“As teachers, we can’t just focus on academics,” she said. “We should be doing our part to develop our students’ characters and impart good moral values. That’s why our team created these practical, sustainable projects: we want to ensure this development of kindness happens all year round.”
And the school indeed aims to keep the “momentum of kindness”, as Nursalwani calls it, going.
Over 30 students and teachers will be participating in the Borneo International Marathon, co-organised by the Kinabalu Running Club and Unicef Malaysia, where they plan on giving a talk on bullying prevention.
The school is also in the midst of preparing a series of presentations as part of its plan to spread word on National Kindness Week throughout schools in Sabah.
“We’re going to do an outreach programme because this is an important message,” said Tay. “Many students come from underprivileged families and need to hear about kindness and its positive impacts.
“We will start with our feeder
school – 60% of our students come from that ‘notorious’ primary school – and we’ll work our way out from there.”
Tay plans to retire soon. After 34 years of service, she counts SMK Sanzac as one of her greatest successes – and her legacy will definitely live on in the students whose lives she has touched.
Nursalwani, for one, plans on carrying a message of kindness wherever she goes, whether on to college in the future, or at home with her siblings.
“National Kindness Week made me realise that I’m guilty of hurting people’s feelings sometimes,” said Nursalwani.
“I mean it in a ‘ main-main’ (joking) way, but sometimes it’s the little things that affect people the most. I want to be kinder, both at school and at home with my parents and sisters.
“Small acts of kindness are so important because like how small mean things can affect you greatly, small kind acts can also make a large impact.” #StandTogether is a campaign by SP Setia and R.AGE to promote kindness as a positive way to combat bullying in schools. The campaign was supported by the Education Ministry, Unicef Malaysia, Digi, Petrosains, Teach For Malaysia, 100% Project, and Study Hub Asia.