“The most important day of a person’s education is the first day of school, not graduation day.”
“American eduator, educational speaker and author, Harry Wong”
WHEN I looked at the Sarawak Tribune on Feb 18, a day after schools reopened for the 2025/2026 Academic Session in Sarawak, I had a good laugh.
There was a picture of a young primary school boy sobbing profusely under the gazes of his classmates as his mother (or was it teacher?) wiped the tears from his face.
Nowadays, it is rare to find primary one kids crying on their first day in school because many children go to school early.
Some kids start their educational journey by going to playschool from as young as three or four years old.
They get sent to playschool early because their ageing grandparents cannot cope with the strenuous task of looking after them at home.
My grandson is one of these kids. Of course, he cried terribly on his first day in school. Until then, he had never been separated from his parents or his maternal grandparents. Gradually, he got used to the teachers and classmates in his playschool.
Now, my grandson is in kindergarten. When I saw him during the reunion dinner for the Lunar New Year recently, he proudly showed me his artworks and his books.
He and his classmates also performed during the playschool’s graduation concert not so long ago.
He speaks English and Mandarin and loves to sing Bahasa Malaysia songs. He is polite to his elders and cares for them.
Because of these valuable skills he has picked up from the playschool, I think it worthwhile for his parents to spend a hefty sum of money on his monthly school fee there.
Whether they attend playschools or not, kids now have to go to kindergartens by the time they are five. After completing two years at the kindergartens, they are ready for primary one.
Looking at the picture of the sobbing boy in the Sarawak Tribune recently, I wonder whether he attended kindergarten or not.
If he had, he should have got used to being separated from his parents, particularly his mother or grandmother, for a few hours.
If he had been to kindergarten, he would have looked forward to meeting other young boys and girls of his age.
Looking at the boy brings back memories of my own first day in school about six decades ago.
My first day in primary school was my first day in school. You see, in my family, only the boys went to kindergartens. All the girls went straight to primary one.
My family was poor and could not afford to send all the children to kindergartens. Besides, in those days, there were no playschools and very few kindergartens.
Does it matter if you don’t go to kindergartens? Yes, nowadays, it matters a lot. You will have to catch up with the writing, reading and mathematics because life is so competitive now.
Do you know that on my first day in school, I did not even know my own official name? At home, my parents, brothers and sisters had always called me by a nickname.
The class teacher called me again and again but I did not respond. How did I know she was calling me? No one ever called me by that grand sounding and complicated Chinese name at home.
My father, who gave me the grand name, stood by a class window and did not pay attention to the teacher. He was busy talking to a friend he had not met for a long time. His friend’s daughter was my classmate.
In the end, after I had kept my seat warm for a long time, the teacher finally noticed me and asked me to approach her. That alerted my father into approaching the teacher as well.
After my father registered me with the class teacher and paid the necessary fees, we went home. My elder sister and I waited for the bus while my father cycled home.
I cannot remember much about my first year in school and about how I reacted to the books and lessons.
However, although much water has flowed under the bridge, I still remember being beaten on the fingers with a stick by a teacher because I did not know how to hold a pencil properly.
“Is there a proper way of holding a pencil?” I wondered then and I still wonder now.
Kids nowadays are so fortunate. My little grandson, for instance, has tons of story books and lots of pencils and colour pencils at home.
When I was young, there were no story books, pencils or dolls to play with at home. My father was Chinese educated while my mother was illiterate.
Looking back, I wished my father had told that I had an official name I would be using in school.
I wished the teacher who beat my fingers had been more patient with me and empathise with poor students who had never held a pencil in their lives.
Looking back, I am glad that coming from a poor family did not stop me from catching up with the more fortunate pupils in my class.
I am glad poverty did not stop me from being a good student and enjoying a happy and good life now. Indeed, with determination, everything is possible, my friends.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
