Jarod Yong

If you haven't heard about this by now & you're a tenured teacher in Malaysia, you'll want to pay attention. This is from what I've understood from my reading & discussion with senior teachers in Sarawak. I may be wrong & I will update this post whenever I get new information. The previous promotion system. About a month ago, a new circular was released regarding changes to the Time-Based KUP promotions of teachers. It details Kecemerlangan requirements for Time-Based promotions or Time-Based Berdasarkan Kecemerlangan (TBBK). The grass is looking a lot less greener now. This applies ONLY to applications of GD41 to DG44 & DG44 to DG48. Teachers whose Lantikan happened in Jan 2005 & later will go through TBBK. Those who were appointed in 2004 have probably received their KUP free of charge (without TBBK) by now. You lucky baskets. Those who were appointed before that were under the previous remuneration system of 10 years for a KUP promot

Right now, I have some time to write a little bit & update this blog which has been left pretty much dormant since things started to heat up for me a month ago. I'll write about all the exciting stuff I'm involved in in due time. Starting with this one. =) Teach For Malaysia fellows & staff. See if you can spot me! (Photo: TFM) On the 24 of August, I was invited to give a keynote speech & conduct a workshop for the first Teach For Malaysia conference in KL, The Summit. It was a big honour for me because I am just a young teacher in the jungle. I never expected such a prominent NGO to come calling. I'm not an expert in anything. Not a trainer of any sort. Not even a Master’s degree holder. I felt slightly intimidated with the task of giving a speech (which is essentially telling people what to do) but the officers at TFM had such faith in me. I was encouraged & decided to give it my best shot. The Teach For Malaysia Foundation office Before

It is not fun to be in the dark in the middle of the jungle. Most of you in the city have probably never experienced an extended period without electricity. Even then, the store is just a short drive away for flash-lights & candles. I work in the middle of the jungle. I stay in the quarters at school. We do not have power cables providing us with a steady supply of electricity. We have 24 hours electricity from ageing diesel generators which can break down at any moment & they do break down every once in a while. Notice I said ONCE IN A WHILE; not once in a blue moon. The generator does break down every few months. When the electricity goes, everything goes. The water pump cannot run. No water to the pipes means walking to the river nearby for bathing & washing. A full pail of water to be carried all the way up to my flat in case of 'emergencies'. And cooking. Oh gosh. No power for the fridge. No water in the pipes. Cooking will be a wonderfully pleasurable

I had a really good laugh when a friend tagged me in a link to an article  by The Star about the so-called 'Get Smart' Pills. If you didn't know, some school headmasters & teachers have been forcing their pupils to buy these pills. They claim that these pills have a concentration of herbs which make pupils more obedient & hard-working. These pills were apparently also endorsed by the Malaysian Federation of the Council of Headmasters. If that is the case, the credibility of this organisation is in question. Especially since lab tests have found that the pills were  95% sugar & less than 2% herbs . Shockingly, these herbal candies have been in distribution since 2010. It might have had a placebo effect on the pupils. Anyway, I laughed about the article because it reminded me of a particular 'Pill Pandai' pusher at my school. No, it was not a teacher. It was actually one of my Form 2 students. Let me call him AB. A primary schoolmate of his divulged t