Boy is sole Year One pupil at school
Studying at Tamil school a fun and exciting experience for Malay kid
PAGOH: Putera Famisah Kamarulzaman is hardly lonesome despite being the only pupil in his Year One class in a Tamil school.
In fact, the seven-year-old finds that attending school is fun and exciting.
Famisah and his elder brother Putera Farizs, 12, are among four Malay students studying in SJK(T) Ladang Ban Heng here.
The school, which is tucked away in an oil palm estate about 15km from Pagoh town, has only 10 pupils and eight teachers, including a headmaster.
Famisah’s grandmother Ropiah Ali, 58, who works in the estate, said she was proud to have her grandchildren pick up a language other than Bahasa Melayu.
“It is also good for race relations as my grandchildren can learn about other cultures,” she said.
She added that she was taking care of her grandchildren as their parents were working in Johor Baru.
Ropiah said her own two children studied at the school and did not have any problems when they went on to a Malay secondary school.
Ropiah, who can speak a bit of Tamil herself, expressed confidence that her youngest grandson, who wants to be a fireman when he grows up, would be able to read and write soon.
“The teachers here are dedicated. They will put a lot of emphasis on ensuring that the students do well in school,” she added.
Headmaster R. Selvam said the school had four pupils in Year Six, two in Year Five and one each from Year One to Four.
“Last year, our UPSR passing rate was 100%,” he said.
The school has been running since 1947.
To mark the first day of school, he said, they had a Mickey Mouse mascot welcome the pupils.
“We also let each of our pupils plant a lime tree as we want them to take care of it daily and monitor its growth,” Selvam said, adding that this would encourage them to care for the plants and environment.
A total of 2,028 students entered Year One in 70 Tamil schools statewide.
Like Famisah, two other students – a Malay and a Muslim – entered Year One in Tamil schools in Kota Tinggi and Skudai.