My post today will be a repetition of other blogs with a touch of 'The Editor's ramblings'. As I mentioned before I have had the opportunity to meet people, from other parts of this small world we call earth, last year in Malta and earlier this year in the Bahamas and 'Womens rights' was a topic I always come across often during my tea break discussions.
The notion of 'Womens rights' was always a strong issue and I understand that many female youths are joining the women in pushing for womens rights in their respective governments. I really do not wish to dwell into unfamiliar territory myself as I have been labeled a sexist this year.
However I do support strongly the statement made by Judge Hayati. It is high time women are given 'equal rights' and opportunities at all levels. We know that girls are given equal access to the free education provided by the government of His Majesty, then it will be a waste of millions of Brunei dollars if these successful women are not given the opportunity that they deserve.
I do believe it does not hurt to try because take the Ministry of Education for example who have 'tried' so many schemes in order to give young Bruneians equal opportunities and have somehow found their way back to square one. That was not an insult but rather a kind reminder that MoE is now under a new leadership and I have been told to expect new things to come and it does sound rather interesting and challenging.
Pointed out by Ms Maurina in [here] as she quoted Emma Good Egg's statistics that women are in the positive at this moment and we should, I repeat, give them the chance that they are entitled to.
Another thing I would like to add to is a statement on, again, MsMaurina about learning to speak out;
More than 80% of UBD Graduates (excluding SHB Institute of Education and
Institute of Medicine, and (update) IM Students aren’t even UBD Graduates
anyway) are unemployed: Major reason being? They’re too quiet. During job
interviews, they are afraid to speak up and are as a result seen as having no
opinion on anything whatsoever.
80% is a big sum. Why is 'talking' such a problem for some people? May I be given the benefit of the doubt that this has to do with our, again, Education system. Being spoon-fed for half of the students learning life has, I believe, been the root of this 'inability' to speak out. It is a challenging thing for myself in the class to try and get my girls to speak out. I have some girls who have no problem to answer or ask me questions but the majority are 'speechless'.
I remember watching a video of a primary 3 lesson in a local private school and what surprised me most was the number of children in the class. I remember pausing the video and counted the number of students and it came to 40 I think. The classroom was so packed and I could not imagine myself teaching is a class like that. But what really caught my attention was the response by the students when the teacher asked a question and up everyones hands went waving frantically to get the teacher's attention. It was amazing. How I would love to have my students waving frantically to anwer the questions I pose to them.
Other than what happens in the classroom it also has to be about our cultural upbringing. We are not really encourage to speak out but simply listen attentively. I guess that is why we are such good listeners. However I remember visiting 'an all boy secondary school' in Putra Jaya last year during a working visit to Malaysia. I had the pleasure of meeting the President and vice president of the student council. These two young men caught the whole delegations attentions. They spoke like they were politicians. They practice demoracy and have elections. It was very interesting but what amazed me was how difficult it would be to meet a local student who was as confident as they were. I am not implying we do not have any, we do have these kind of students but they are far and few in between.
I try new things in class in hope that something will click. Some honest comments from my students is that I have become more strict since last year and they tell me to loosen up. They said they missed the teacher they had last year. Seriously, I figure the fact that my students will hopefully be sitting for their PMB's next year is stressing me. What if I do not cover the whole syllabus for this year? Imagine the chaos next year. Do I sound like I worry too much? Tense?
On a final note I support HW of Jerudong who wrote on the opinion page about the National Anthem. Show some respect for your country. If you laugh during the National anthem then it also means you are laughing at the country you are living in. I remember when I used to be a radio broadcaster, on the morning shifts we would start with the National anthem and I would stand up in the studio and sing along to the National anthem. I love my country and so should those inconsiderate 'people'.
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