Going the extra mile to help Orang Asli students

TAPAH: Since 2014, teachers of Sekolah Kebangsaan ( SK) Pos Musoh LZ ( Landing Zone) in a remote Orang Asli village, near here, have been sacrificing their time and energy giving tuition classes to ensure pupils sitting for the Primary School Achievement Test ( UPSR) pass the examination.

This year, the 12 teachers led by school headmaster Azman Abdul Manaf had been spending several nights in the school to help seven UPSR candidates from the school prepare for the examination.

According to Azman, 50, as a different approach was needed for the Orang Asli students, the teachers had been running extra classes every day since the beginning of the year and this would continue right until just before examination day.

“Actually, it is a challenge to maintain the students’ interest in learning as we have to adjust to their learning styles and areas of interest.

“Here, we have to teach according to the students’ ability and we must be able to draw their attention without following the syllabus solely or else the students will just run home,” he said when met at the school, yesterday.

SK Pos Musoh LZ has 52 Orang Asli students and to travel the 40-kilometre distance between the school and Tapah town, the teachers would have to drive through steep slopes along a narrow path wide enough to fit a four-wheel- drive vehicle.

Azman who is from Temoh, near here, said the UPSR tuition classes were specially held for four girls and three boys after school from 2pm to 4.30pm daily from Mondays to Thursdays.

“However, two weeks before the examination, extra classes were held from 8pm to 10pm,” he said, adding that there was no transportation problem for the students as their houses were nearby. — Bernama