Uncertainties (1)

January 2017 started with uncertainties and basically ended with more uncertainties. But that is life, no matter how hard we try to assure certain things go the way we want them to be, nothing is definitive. Only Allah has that power, we only make plans.

Earlier in the month, formal schools started for 3 of my children this year. Aliyah was supposed to start in a new school and Luqman of course just joined in formal schooling this year. It was an exciting and stressful time for everyone, actually. However, things became even more stressful, when Aliyah didn't get a place in SMAP Kajang. I purposely chose that school in the SBP form, because I wanted to her pursue whatever she's been learning during her KAFA days, including her Arabic which she was rather good at. We went around to see the school and she had approved of it. In addition, it was rather close to my parents's house in Kajang so that would make even easier for visitations purposes.

For a while, it was a rather disappointing and uncertain time because I didn't register her to any of the school nearby our home, except for all the Sekolah Kawalan (which we only chose 2, instead of the usual 4). When the time came for the result for Sekolah Kawalan - her first choice of school, an SMKA, SMK Agama Sheikh Haji Mohd Said, also known as SHAMS in Sikamat had also turned her down. I was getting sleepless night. I don't understand what was going on. I heard many version of rationales. It appears most SMKAs don't wanna consider students with good results for fear they will be snatched away by SBPs and MRSMs. Anyway, since the result for MRSM is yet to be out by then, so we appealed for both SBP and SHAMS. I changed from SMAP Kajang to SMAP Labu instead, for I heard there's a stiff competition for placement in SMAP Kajang. So the few days between all the rejections and what happened next cause a lot frustration on my part. Aliyah in the meantime appears to be rather nonchalant.

By the end of December, I receive a call from the State's Education Department, stating that Aliyah is offered a place at SMK King George V (popularly known as KGV), in Seremban town. KGV was her second choice of Sekolah Kawalan. KGV is the best daily school in Seremban. So we gladly accepted the offer, thinking at least now she'll have a school while we wait for all the appeals. I registered her in the first week, bought all the relevant things that she needs for the moment for the school, since it didn't cost us more that RM80 (inclusive of her School T-shirt). Then, something great happened.

KGV has been running a Kelas Aliran Agama (KAA) for the past 4 years with a Tahfiz curriculum for a number of students in the school. Students who secured a place in the KAA would usually be boarded in a nearby hostel for the school. So the first week of school, while also monitoring Luqman at his school and Aliyah attending her school's orientation, I ran around KGV, met up with this teacher and that teacher, went up and down the State's Education Department twice, wrote an appeal letter and buat muka seposen calling here and there, praying hard so just to get Aliyah a placement in the KAA class. Alhamdulillah, finally by the end of the first week, a light beamed through, and she was deemed qualified to join the class and a couple of days later we enrolled her into her hostel nearby the school. (let's have that story another day)

In between this process, ironically the State's Education Department called informing us that our appeal for SHAMS has been approved, but we decided to reject it for various reasons. KGV is an English niche school, absorbing the Dual Language Program to the core, hence, Maths and Science will be taught in English for everyone in Form 1. And now since Aliyah is in KAA with the Tahfiz classes, she gets the best of both worlds, not to mention the ability to still mingle with students from other ethnicity in KGV. And the best part, although she was taking time to adapt to hostel life, she actually enjoyed the school very much. She was always excited to talk about what happened in school. So we took that as our sign that KGV is the best for her. In fact, when the MRSM result came out last week, we are so sure we will also reject the offer. She was offered a place in MRSM Alor Gajah which caters for the Cambridge IGCSE curriculum, which I think would do nothing much more for her. Her English is almost impeccable, and KGV is already teaching Maths and Science in English. What she will be getting from the KAA class will be more that what the MRSM will be able to provide for her. In fact, she had already started her Quranic Classes and starting memorizing all the short verses of Juzu' 30. So what more can we be asking for...May Allah have mercy on her and our family and help her in her striving for knowledge for both this world and the hereafter.

A Georgian now :-)

Kat ASRAMA PUTERI MELAYU Seremban.

On a side note - I am actually fed up and annoyed with the way the SBPs and the MRSMs system are managing their placement offers. They caused parents and students so much heartache and stress for not being able to sort things out between themselves and issue their offers at the same time. I don't understand why MRSM had to start classes in February every year. Don't they know that parents would have already spent so much money in the initial school their children were enrolled in?? I don't understand why if students were offered a place in SBPs, they can no longer get a placement in MRSMs. Then why do you allow them to apply for both SBP and MRSM in the first place??? Is this some sort of a popularity contest? Weighing in whether there are more applications for SBP or MRSM that year? And then campak them here and there??? I simply don't get it!!! And due to what happened with Aliyah, I have decided in the future, I will no longer consider SBPs and MRSMs anymore for all my children. I will apply for the Sekolah Kawalan, yes. But I have no interest anymore to be sucked into the level of uncertainties created by their so called elitist 'mismanagement'.