Rise and shine my way!
Forget the alarm clock as using bike more effective for Counsellor
KUALA LUMPUR: Each morning, the din of a motorcycle engine fills a boarding school dormitory as a man wearing a kopiah (Malay headgear), baju Melayu and sarong revs up the bike along the narrow corridors of the building.
This scene is from a short video clip recorded by a student at Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in Arau, Perlis.
The man in the widely shared clip is a counselling teacher who revs his bike as a wake-up call for students.
Mohd Shahid Ahmad, 41, said that when it comes to waking up early, some students have a problem, especially during weekends.
“I had to find other ways to wake them up, including revving up my motorcycle engine,” he said when contacted by mStar.
Mohd Shahid, who has been teaching at the school for two years, said he would push his bike every morning for about 200m along the ground floor corridors of the three-storey dorm while revving the engine.
He goes on his rounds at 5.50am so that the students can wake up early and pray together at the school’s surau.
“When students develop a habit of waking up early, problems such as coming late to class and playing truant during the morning assembly can be overcome.
“They will also have time to clean their room, revise and perform prayers,” he said.
In his 11 years as a teacher, Mohd Shahid has received various awards, including from his students.
They include the Most Popular Teacher award in 2017 and 2019, the Coolest Teacher award in 2018 and the Most Caring Teacher award in 2011.
He has also received the Best Mara Educator 2010 award for Kedah and the MRSM Langkawi Special award 2014.
Mohd Shahid feels that his special wake-up call is effective. However, the method does have a drawback.
Mohd Shahid recalled one morning three years ago when he was teaching at the MSRM school in Langkawi.
He was revving his bike to wake up his students but did not realise the bike was running out of fuel.
“Suddenly the engine died. The students who had woken up laughed but they then helped me push my motorcycle out of the dormitory.
“We had to push the bike for quite a long distance and at the end of it we were all covered in sweat,” he said.