A FAREWELL GATHERING FOR THE JOHOR STATE EDUCATION DIRECTOR

A professional dialogue session with the Johor State Education Director cum a farewell gathering for his upcoming retirement was held by the Johor Bahru District Education Office (PPDJB) today at Trove Hotel. We had to pay on our own to attend (or rather, asked to attend) this session, if you are wondering if it was free.

Many of us were already there before 11:00 a.m. but we started to eat lunch after 2:00 p.m.

NOTE TO SELF: For my retirement gathering (if there is any), my speech will be very, very short. Oh, I don't have a lot of things to share anyway.

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*FOOTNOTE: Trove Hotel was known as Selesa Hotel before this. I guess there is a new management taking over the premise.

ATTENDING A HALF DAY MEETING AT JOHOR STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Today was historical as it was my first time sitting in a meeting chaired by the the Director of Johor State Education Department, with other high ranked Education Officers of the Johor state. The most difficult thing was to keep myself awake throughout the session so I had to make myself busy typing some notes. Luckily, my seat was stationed right at the back of the room so not many would notice if I dozed off.

It was such a big relief to be seated next to a colleague so there was someone to talk to.

I was earlier greeted my ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti (SPM 2013), Siti Nurhanisah Mohd. Said, who is now doing her internship there. My day was hence started with a positive vibe when I saw someone who smiling brightly and waving at me from afar.

Then there was a reunion session when I met an ex-classmate of Sekolah Temenggong Abdul Rahman (2), Mr. Mujahid Ahmad, who is now attached with Johor Religious Department. We have not met since we left primary school 37 years ago.

It was a half day session so I guess it was not that bad at all. This was just the beginning which means there will be more meetings to attend next year.

ATTENDING JOHOR STATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONFERENCE 2017

day one

I used to go to the hall at Kolej Perdana, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to attend wedding receptions. I was there for a different purpose nevertheless on the 23rd and 24th October 2017. My name appeared in the list so I was there for the Johor State English Language Conference.

There were about 500 participants consisting mostly of English teachers from primary and secondary schools throughout the state. Most of the people whom I saw there were strangers.

There were academic papers presented by English teachers, language officers and lecturers of UTM.

choral speaking performance

action song performance

day two

with friends from Johor Bahru

I was glad to be selected to attend the conference. I could not even remember attending such an event. It must have been a very long time ago.

THE THIRD IN-HOUSE TRAINING FOR 2014

12th July 2014 ~ Another in-house training was held at our usual meeting place, CTL {Centre of Teaching and Learning), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. This time, it was a bit different as there were about 30 teachers from SMK Skudai who joined in the seminar on integirty. The speaker of the day was Tuan Haji Hatta Md. Salleh, an ex-officer of Johor State Education Department.

I was worried I would fall asleep during the 3 hours talk but the speaker was quite interesting so I managed to stay awake right until the end. I wonder whether this was the last session or will there be another one?

NOTE: pictures copied from Puan Yasirah's FB

PMR 2013 EXAMINATION RESULT WAS ANNOUNCED TODAY

Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination [translate: lower secondary evaluation] result was announced today. However, I was not in school to share the students' joy and sadness. I (again) had to represent the Principal at the Announcement Ceremony done by the State Education Director. I was there as early as 8:00 a.m. as instructed but the event that took part in hall started only at 10:30 a.m.

the Director of State Education Department

The audience comprised of the state and district education officers, principals, teachers, parents and students. After announcing the summary of the result for the schools in the state of Johor, the certificate-giving ceremony was carried out. Schools which had achieved excellent and good results were given the certificates and they were divided into different categories such as controlled schools, boarding schools, and ordinary town and rural schools based on the different number of students taking the examination. The students who were invited were from special education group and had done very well.

My school, SMK Taman Universiti, was given the recognition for getting grade point average of 2.6 (1.0 will be the perfect score) for rural school with more than 400 students taking the exam. Thanks to the State Education Department for not forgetting ordinary schools and for not comparing us to other schools which are not in our own league. At the same time, congratulations to all the teachers, students and parents who had contributed to the success.

SMKTUN first school clerk, Pn Hafsah, who is now with the State Department

my friend, Mr. Abdul Aziz, who is now attached to the Department

Even though I was not in school, I still managed to see the school result. So here is the list of 45 straight A's students for this year:

9A

Mohamad Faris Amurmudin

Muhamad Fakhri Mohmad Jamal

Muhammad Adli Mohd. Rosli

Muhammad Amir Syafiq Rohmat Rose

Muhammad Bismi haziq Azahari

Muhammad Hafizi Zulkeflee

Muhammad Izzat Ibrahim

Syed Idrus Syed Ab. Rahman

Asnida Mohd. Jamaluddin

Natasha Nadia Aziz

Idris Ebi Shahrin

8A

Abdul Mutalib Abdul Ghafor Omar

Boon Jhun Yong

Cheong Loh Kai

 Muhammad Afif Hakim Azman

Muhammad Hannan Hanafi Zaide

Muhammad Musa Yusof

Tan Jia Jin

Yew Ji Hui

Yogendran Manivanan

Anis Suhaila Abdul Rahim

Foo Jia Xin

Hakimah Athirah Mohamad Sabri

Nadia Nabila Md. Hafiz

Ng Jing Hann

Nur Diyana Mohd. Dzulkarni

Shasmita Lingam

Syazani Aqilah Khalid

Tan Kai Xin

Muhammad Nazmi Ishak

Wong Jia Wei

Kang Chu Ning

Kok Wen Qi

Lau Yue Han

Lui Xiao Qian

Nuranisah Asli

Phang Hwee Ying

Wong Vee Yuan

Wong Gordon

7A

Dhinagaran Nair Nathan

Ravivarma Chandrasekaran

Christina Jane Vellan

Dharshini Ravendran

Jegthiswary Suresh

Joanne Goh Yi Xuan

the high flyers

This year's examination is the last of its kind. With the implementation of school-based assessment system (PBS), we are not sure of what is going to happen next year. And life still has to go on even though we do not know what lies ahead. *sigh*

ATTENDING A MEETING AT THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

the meeting room

the view from the 6th floor

Finally I set foot inside the brand new Johor State Education Department which was only seen from far away all this while. The reason: I had to attend a meeting which was related to the upcoming National Level Camping for Kadet Bomba where the state of Johor is playing host. Nothing interesting to tell about the meeting except that there will be more work for my fellow colleagues and I.