The quest to give every child an education

Last year, I was the class-teacher of a Form One class and most of my students were registered and had settled down within the first week of January. Ahmad (not his real name), however, only registered in March. Although he had three months of work to catch up on, he showed more progress than the rest of his peers. I never got the chance to ask him why he started school late but I was happy he was coping well with class.

After a month in school, he suddenly stopped attending. I asked around and eventually found out that he was working at a petrol station. Ahmad – barely 13 years old – had seemingly made the decision to leave school and start working. The school counsellors and I did everything that we could but there was no persuading him to return to school.

His decision affected me deeply. I felt as if I had failed to keep him in school. No child should be left behind and he needed to get the education he deserves. In this case, however, Ahmad was not denied the right to education – he made a conscious decision to do so.

This incident got me wondering: what would it take to ensure that our children are making the right decisions, to stay in school and get the education they deserve? Thinking about this reminded me of Raviraj Salwani who is working towards a solution for out-of-school children. Raviraj was bothered by the teenagers on Mabul Island occupying their days and nights in idleness. He believed he could put them on a different life trajectory if he provided them with the basic education they need. With this in mind, he started Mabul Skills Centre.

The centre will start by training fifteen youths aged 15 to 25 with the basics in hospitality, tourism and English for functional use. Raviraj hopes that through the education the youths receive at his centre they will be able to secure better jobs for themselves and inevitably contribute towards the development of Mabul island. I believe that Raviraj and his team’s effort to educate out-of-school children is an excellent start towards ensuring we are providing an avenue for all our children to succeed.

As I begin my third year in school, I set a personal target for myself to ensure every student under my care does not make the choice to leave school. This time, I promised myself that there will be no more students like Ahmad who will turn away from getting the education he or she deserves. And I hope that I will remember that even one child left behind is a child too many. I know that this will be a greater challenge this year as I move on to teach the Form Fives and prepare them for their SPM.

Here’s hoping for a successful year ahead with every child staying on in school and doing their best to achieve an excellent education.  – January 8, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.