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Mon, Jan 05, 2009
New Straits Times
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'I don't want my children to end up like me'
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>KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA - Sanny Singkia, 32, has high hopes for his son, Jastie, who starts primary school this year. The vegetable farmer wants a proper education for his son, to free the child from the vicious cycle of poverty in the remote village of Togudon in Penampang.
Giving Jastie books, uniforms, food and taking him to school will be difficult, but the main obstacle is to make sure the boy finishes his education.
"The challenge will be to make sure he stays at school. There are at least 30 teenagers between 13 and 19 in this village who have dropped out of school over the last five years," he said about the village off the Penampang-Tambunan road, about 60km from here.
"I hardly finished primary school but I know the difference between those who are educated well and those who are like me. I don't want my children to end up like me," said Sanny who considers himself lucky because he can read and write.
His sister Edna, 17, dropped out and now wished that it had worked out for her.
"I was in Form Two at SM Datuk Peter Mojuntin. In April 2004, I returned home for the monthly weekend break but could not go back to school for several days.
"My friends told me that I had been kicked out of the hostel. I asked if I could be accepted again but did not get any response from the school. I left it at that.
"The best I can do now is to make sure my two younger siblings (Adrian and Paula) stay in school, at least until they reach Form Five," said Edna, who works at a hair salon in Donggongon town.
Civil servant Vivian Mimie believes children from Togudon faced a culture shock when they start secondary school.
"Here we do not have electricity, children roam about freely in the open unlike in school where there are strict rules and regulations."
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