Assalamualaikum...
When Imani reached the age of 2
years old, we knew that we have to start our research on schools and line of
education that we wish to embed in our family. We know it’s hard but we never
expected it to be the hardest plus most difficult research we ever took as a
parent.
Play school was easy. We know exactly
what we want to instill in our kids. No exams. No ranking. PLAY only. Do not
fall to the famous name easily. Advertisement can sometimes quite misleading. I
suggest, prepare a list of available school within your area, take a day off
and interview the owner. What we did was, surveyed the school facilities and
interviewed the school’s operator (aimed for the principal please). In a day,
we went to 4 schools and settled down with one chosen by Imani herself.
Alhamdulillah, it was a great experience so far.
When Imani reached the age of 6
years old, we already have our shortlisted schools. And being a choosy mother,
my selection was not within my area only, I had an alternative selection should
the 1st option was not made available to us. And that alternative
included a relocation of our permanent address.
Ok. So what is the best? A public
school or a private school?
Private School
If you choose a private schools,
you should understand what kind of future you plan for your kids. It won’t be a
red carpet treatment i.e. in term of monetary, you will not be given any
subsidy in school fees, books etc. Same goes to a boarding school, once you
enrolled your kid to a private education, unless they took their UPSR, they are
not eligible to attend any boarding school for primary education.
Same goes to, pursuing their
education abroad, a normal scholarship will not be easy no matter how many A1s
they manage to achieve in their exam.
Government or government linked organization will normally offer their scholarship
to the high flyers student graduating from famous public boarding school for a
like of Sekolah Tun Fatimah , Malay College Kuala Kangsar or MRSM.
As parents, if you opt for a
private school, you have to establish a strong financial sustainability. You
have to have fund readily available to pay for the school fees (which normally
more expensive as the teachers are not locally bred), the programmes and the
books.
In contrast, a private school
offers an independent, non-exam-oriented environment. A holistic upbringing
involving independent thinking, critical analysis and soft skills. By sending
your kid to a private school, you are basically teaching them to think out of
the box. You are not producing a job seeker individual, instead you are
producing a real life survivor.
Public School
As most of public school is
funded by government, there is no risk of getting your kids a proper education
should there is any mishap in between i.e. loss of employment, economic
downturn resulting in lower currency value etc.
You could spend you extra money for additional soft skill classes
outside the classroom.
If your kids excel, options are
open for them. They can choose for a science school, or religious school or
combination of both. And the teachers nowadays are well trained, both in
theories and analytic skill. As the programs are normally free, your kid will have
vast opportunity to enter any competition to their like and expertise.
The bad is, most public school is
an exam oriented place. The kids will have long list of subjects to attend to. The
kids will be ranked and grouped based on their exam’s result. Priority and
focus will also be given to the higher performance classes to represent school
in any program, to experience new modules to the least of being the school
prefect. This, ultimately resulting in parents sending their kid for tuition
which will normally cost them a hole in their pocket.
And please do not think of
holistic upbringing. Few good school does teach and exposure their student for analytic skill and survivor attitude, but most are not. It’s not anyone
mistake, it’s the culture. If the kids not performing well in exam, they are
nobody, resulting in their 110%’s effort wasted on books.
So parents, choose and decide wisely.
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