Featured in The Sun Daily - 5 May 2015

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There is a factual error here. We do not take the boats every day. We take 2 boats to the school & stay in the quarters on site.
Can't imagine? Perhaps these photos of my school will help.
On Tuesday, 5 May 2015, I was featured in The Sun Daily in the "Next Gen" column for notable youth in an article titled "The Jungle Teacher" written by Alicia Nicholle Ng who paid her own way to my school to be a volunteer for a week-long camp for my students. She is truly a gem & someone whose heart is in the right place. You can read the article by clicking on the image above & zooming. Or, you can read part of the article online: http://www.thesundaily.my/node/307834

The interview happened in January & it's purely coincidental that the article was published right after my viral blog post. This article is mainly about my experiences, efforts as well as my hope for my students.

I agreed to this interview because the readers are future teachers. I want them to seriously consider teaching in remote areas & to see many possibilities in highly challenging circumstances when too many are focused on e-Gtukar. I also want them to realise the powerful impact they will be making on the children they will be working with. A power so great that it humbles me to wield it.

I want to state clearly here that I AM NOT THE BEST TEACHER in the country & I AM NOT THE ONLY TEACHER teaching in remote areas. There are too many teachers out there who are working very hard for the future generation without an ounce of appreciation BOTH in the cities, the jungles & everywhere in between. They NEED all the support & respect we can give. I am constantly on the lookout for such teachers because they do not have a platform to share like I do. They are the treasures in our education system who are right under our noses. In the end, it's the individuals in the classrooms that do the real work to make a real difference regardless of the system they are under.

I am only doing simple things that any teacher can do & I encourage teachers to adapt as much of my work as they want. Make it yours. I don't care. In the end, it's the nation, not the individual that matters. Also, I encourage teachers to share their work. Every student is unique. So are the teachers. We should be allowed to shine & contribute in our own way, covering each other's shortcomings & amplifying each other's strengths, instead of being forced into a single fixed shape of what a teacher should be.

Finally, right now, I want you to think of a teacher that you know. Write a short encouraging message to him/her. Send it. Your message could be the only encouraging message that teacher has received in YEARS even he/she has been giving his/her best! DO IT NOW!

SITTING at his computer table in his teacher's quarters in SMK Katibas located in Song, Sarawak, teacher Jarod Yong...
Posted by Thesundaily on Monday, 4 May 2015

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