1MALAYSIA YOUNG TEACHERS' ASSEMBLY

An assembly for the state's  young teachers was organized at Pusat Kokurikulum, Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri Johor today. Even though I am still young, my name was not listed as a participant. Anyway, I was "instructed" to represent my principal for the event so did I have any choice not to go?

Actually the assembly was done for the southern zone so the teachers from Melaka and Negeri Sembilan should be there also. (We were told by the emcee the Melaka contingent was present.)

nasi lemak or mee hoon?

The participants had to register as early as 7:30 a.m. and went to get our breakfast. People started arriving and a short briefing was given. Right after that, everyone was moving to the stations where they should be taking part in the activities prepared, from sports like netball and sepak raga, indoor games such as chess, congkak and batu seremban to outdoor activities like flying fox and canoeing. 

People who did not know what to do could visit the exhibition booths. I wanted to do the health screening test but there were many people at the counter waiting for their turn.

To my excitement, I met were a few SMKTUN's ex-students who are now teachers at the gathering. There were altogether 6 of them but I managed to get myself photographed with only 3. Miss Quek Miow Leng who recently moved to Batu Pahat was also there and then I only I remembered she had told me before she became a young teacher once again when she arrived at her new school.

At about 11:00 p.m. the deputy Prime Minister cum the Minister of Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, arrived to officiate the launching of gm1m ("guru muda 1Malaysia" - translate: Malaysia young teachers) Facebook page. Lucky enough, he walked near the place I was sitting so I could see him up close and Tan Sri Abd. Ghani Othman, Johor Menteri Besar, was there too.

Finally, the audience sang the 1Malaysia song together and I decided to make my students sing the same song next year in school. And right after that, when everyone was either heading home or getting their lunch which had been prepared, there was this very heavy downpour. I was stuck at the department's building for more than an hour as my car was parked at a school a distance away.

I realized that I have not been socializing with other teachers lately, unlike many years back when I got to see teachers during activities/meetings/seminars/competitions. And today I saw so many teachers and so many new faces. I don't know there could be so many young teachers around. *sigh*