Friday 25 May 2018

KOMTEP 2018 | The Result

I just received a call from Cik Noraini, BPK, MOE. I was in the car with both my KOMTEP friends, Hanafi and Alia. We were on our way to an iftar dinner at Cyberjaya. She asked me, "Can I speak with you?" I then replied,"For sure, Miss Noraini. I'm in the car with Hanafi and Alia." She then asked me to brace myself and tried to keep the news out of anyone's knowledge. Soon after, she said "Congratulations, Hafiz! You made it to Korea!" I was like speechless. Never had I imagined that I would make it this far. Alhamdulillah! Praise be to Allah. I am super excited!! No words could describe the happiness and enjoyment contained within me. But how could I expressed my feeling since I need to keep this good news to my self? Not even to share the good news with my friends sitting next to me. It's hard though but still, I managed to keep it a secret until the next day when Miss Noraini announced the result in the Telegram group.

HM

Wednesday 16 May 2018

KOMTEP Selection Camp 2018 | Day 03

Day 03

Rise and shine. The final day of the camp is here. This morning we would be having the KOMTEP Got Talent where each participant was expected to do 2 different performances - group and individually. I got my ukulele by my side. So, I decided to play it for both group and individual performance. We performed Rasa Sayang Hey song on group performance and Count on Me for individual performance. I was so touched that my other friends decided to accompany me in my performance. They sang along and made some actions and dance to the song. 

Things happened to others as well, soon when the music started, everybody moved forward and danced to the song. We danced, we clapped, we sang and even played musical instruments to back up each and every performance. Joget, inang, zapin, ngajat. You name it! Danced to more than 10 songs. Pancit..

It was then that I started to realize how close we were as a new family. We were never tried to overshadow anyone. And our existence seemed to complement each other's weaknesses. Saling melengkapi. The curtain had been brought down. I thought that I would be happy for as now, no more expectations and pressure from the mentors and facilitators. It appeared that I would totally be missing these guys. Mentors, facilitators, new friends. Not friends. Family. Yes, new family. The memories shall remain forever in my heart. How I wished all 20 of us could go to Korea. 

HM.

Tuesday 15 May 2018

KOMTEP Selection Camp 2018 | Day 02

Day 02

The alarm clock rang. Starting the day off with mixed feeling. After having the breakfast, we headed straight to the meeting room. Since it was raining last night, the physical activity that supposedly took place at the field was relocated and conducted in the room. Each group was given a task to come out with an improvised game that can be played in the room itself. I suggested the Floor is Lava game. Fun and easy. Instead, my group decided to do a "Baling Selipar" game. Shall go with the majority though. Due to the limited space area, I suggested that we crawl around instead of running. It worked. 

On the next session, "Malaysia Education from the Perspective of the Teachers" we were given 5 minutes to study on the National Education Blueprint and Industry 4.0 before presenting our case in a debate-style presentation. For about half-an-hour, we were bombarded with provocative questions. I was quite furious up until this day when Dr. Ghazali just cut off my arguments in explaining how we wanted to prevent future generation to lose jobs and opportunities due to the incompetence of coping with AI revolution, which similar to what was happening in the Industrial Revolution before where people started to lose jobs in the textile industry due to the introduction of the machines. 

Only that when he agreed to my second argument which I had pointed out about why Malaysia is so keen on PISA assessment, while there were numbers of articles had criticised the implementation of the assessment which is not truly representing the whole population of the nations listed. Frankly speaking, it has been a while since I had this kind of conversations. Facts. Figures. Arguments. Truly refreshing. 

Dr. Jasbeer from ELTC resumed the session with an insightful view on the power of perceptions, to what extent it can bring damage to a certain community or organization. As frequent as it could be, we live a life full of perceptions. Commonly negative. Friend towards another friend. Employee towards the employer. Teachers towards the upper echelons of PPDs, JPNs, and KPM. My perceptions towards KPM and those who are responsible for enforcing the policies changed ever since. 

The third session, Global Citizenship was conducted by Puan Suraya from KPM. This broadens my view upon teachers role in not just shaping the young minds locally, but actually establishing a strong foundation in the changes of the global world community. To be on the same level as developed countries, lots of things needed to be done. Especially the teachers. 

After hours of sitting in the room, we had an opportunity to play few games at the hostel compound. My group managed to achieve second place behind Hanafi's group. After done playing the games, we then had a photoshoot session for our group's video. I was in-charged in making and editing the video. 

Evening session started with yet another debating activity. It was just that this time the motions were carried on by groups. My group's motion was based on School Based Assessment. I pointed out few arguments to support the motions but to my surprise, most of the participants developed their arguments within school's limit, which turned out to be one of the shortcomings in our discourse. Dr. Ghaz reminded us to think outside of the box and stop bringing up viewpoints as a teacher, but instead, to view certain issues from the policy maker's perspective.

The session ended up with a brief Teacher's Day celebration. Never been in my life that the Teachers Day was really meaningful to me as what I had experienced today. We cut the cakes, singing Kami Guru Malaysia song, exchange presents and burnt the midnight oil, listening to Dr. Ghaz's inspirational stories. He enlivened my teacher's soul legitimately. I felt like a new teacher, ready to flourished and inspired future generations.

1.00 am. We were still in the room. After the sharing session, my group and other groups as well decided to stay for a while for cultural performance practice. Which will be presented on the next day. Luckily, my group had decided to sing the Rasa Sayang Hey song along with the ukulele played by me. It took us 15 minutes to practice before we headed back to our room.

Back in the room. I would not be able to sleep because I need to complete the group video. So I stayed up until 4.00 am to complete the editing process. Soon after, the video was successfully completed. I used the GoPro Quik app. Easy and it turned out to be good. It was time to sleep. Tomorrow is the last day. Could not wait to finish the course. But something weird I had felt.

HM

Monday 14 May 2018

KOMTEP Selection Camp 2018 | Day 01

Day 01.

Arrived at BTPN Negeri Sembilan which is situated in Port Dickson. I took me about two hours to reach here. The place was fine. A bit quiete and serenity needless to say. Soon I parked my car, my second thought went across my mind. Am I really going to do this? Ah, lantaklah! Dah sampai pon. Registered at the reception counter. Greeted by an elderly officer. Then, I went through the participants list to check my room number and my room mate. Saif. Hmm...okay. He’s quite prominent in the Telegram group. Let’s see how things work. Got my key. Headed straight to the room. Unpacked my bag. Laid in the bed. *Blank* I fell asleep.

Knock3x.

Here come my room mate. We self-introduced each other. He seemed to look like a nice guy. But too soon to judge a book by its cover. Small chats. Then went back to sleep.

The alarm clock rang. Showered. Got myself ready. Performed the Jama’ prayer. Then went straight to the meeting room. We were five minutes late. So good for the first impression isn’t it? Great!!

All facilitators were waiting in the room. And reminding us of the punctuality throughout the camp was their first ever reminder. Terasa. Then, as of how any program or camp should start, we had an ice-breaking session. Played a few games. After sort of knowing each other’s name, we moved on to the next session.

Project proposal presentation. Everybody presented their project proposal intended to be carried out in Korea. All of them were AMAZING. Nazrul, one of the participants aka my new friend were lauded for his impressive ideas. He even won the best project proposal so far. Okay. One spot to go to Korea was gone, which left to 9 more. Then came the fluently English speaking presenters, Ibrahim, Saif, Aliya, Fuzzy etc. And very well prepared project proposals by Michelle, Hanafi, Suhaimi, Farid, Siti Lina, Tracey, etc. Which leaves nothing. Great.

The presentation session lasted for five hours from 4.00 pm until 8.00 pm. Patah pinggang. Around 9.00 pm we had the critic session where the facilitators and the speakers gave their feedback and comment about our project and some sort of brain-washing us to set our head straight to the objective of the programme.

That was when I started to realize that the programme was not a joke. Dr. Ghazali reminded us that we are not going to Korea for such vacation neither as a tourist. Instead, we will be the small ambassadors who will be representing Malaysia and carrying the big name of Malaysia on our shoulders. The gate is always open. He said. Feel free to go whenever you feel you do not fit to the programme.

Apa yang aku buat kat sini? Wouldn’t it be too late for me to go back now? Seriously I am not ready for all this. With all the pressure and tiredness - mentally and physically, I should’ve instead stayed at school happily and be with the kids. What I needed at the moment was some sleep. Some deep, deep sleep...

HM