Melissa got her what-they-call “interim posting” to this school…
– SK Sungai Sepiring near Selangau town, around 1½ hours by road from Sibu.
We drove there for her to report for duty last Monday and when we arrived, we stopped first at the Education Office in the town itself…
The Education Officer was not around…
…but Melissa managed to meet the lady in charge and signed in…
…as an indication that she had reported.
I’m not too sure what this interim thing is – it seems that there are no vacancies available resulting from the current situation where people are retiring at 60 so they have come up with something like this just so there will not be a whole lot of fresh graduates unemployed…which may mean that one may be moved to a school where there is a vacancy as and when the need arises.
I certainly hope that Melissa can stay in this school though as it isn’t far from home and the students look so cute and lovable…
We walked around the school and saw that they were all so very well-behaved in the classrooms during the lessons – not like the ones in the towns and cities…and I’m pretty sure there is none of the problem of demanding and difficult (and vicious) parents either at places like this unlike those urban ones.
Of course, kids are kids so one should expect to see a few monkeys around…
LOL!!! These are usually playful but quite harmless…and if you can win them over, you can twist them around your finger, no problem at all.
This is the admin block and staff room…
…and here, you can see a few of the teachers’ quarters.
There are not enough to go round at the moment so Melissa would have to share with her colleagues…probably until the new ones – those concrete ones at the back – are given the stamp of approval by the authorities concerned and are available for occupancy.
We got to meet the Headmaster and some of the teachers in the school and they were all so very nice and friendly and it was the same with those at the office whom we met earlier. Perhaps this is one thing about small places – people are a whole lot more pleasant and very much nicer.
Well, that certainly was a good start and we certainly hope and pray that Melissa will love working and staying there in the years to come. She’ll be home on weekends and during the holidays, of course…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
there is a tinge of sadness in this post… hmmm… anak ku dah besar dahhh….
Sad? Hmmm…not really. Just one question – when’s the first paycheck? Hehehehehehe!!!!
Haha..so that she can buy daddy a dinner?
Hehehehehe!!!! Can guess who ends up paying in the end. 😉
Certainly looks like a great place. Absolutely quiet and peaceful on the outside… Hopefully it would be all calm with the little ones..lol.
They looked really good, so well-behaved. My school before was next to a primary school…and it was never ever quiet despite the teachers shrieking themselves hoarse. But then again, it was an all-boys’ school…and a town one at that too.
Oh, wow! Melissa is already reporting for duty. 😀 You must be really proud of her!
Definitely. I’ve done all I have to do and all that I can do…
The kids certainly look super adorable!
BTW, do you miss teaching? Was just chatting both my parents over dinner and both miss it quite a bit. Dad is not having it so bad as he does teach a few kids swimming when he sees them during his evening swims.
Yes, I was surprised. I thought they would be dark, skinny, dirty and miserable looking but when I saw them, I was impressed. So sweet, so cute all of them… I wouldn’t mind teaching those. Can’t say I miss teaching really – much nicer to sit back, relax…and do nothing – no stress, no worries, no problems. 😉
It’s wonderful to know that your girl got a job. I hope she gets her pay in time. I got my first pay after 3 months teaching!! I hope she likes the school and enjoys teaching. I still miss teaching. I think teaching is actually fun.
Ya, I hope she’ll enjoy herself there. A whole lot more fun in rural schools – I had my share of that in Kanowit in the 70’s. Sheer joy! Yup, I hear they will not get paid till at least 3 months…but no worries! We’re fine with that.
Not a bad place to kick start her teaching career. Good luck, Melissa.
It most certainly is, thanks. My friend from Bintangor’s just posted to a school in West Malaysia and already up to her neck with problems with students and parents – just started and already cracking up!
Oooo. Interim eh? Sounds like fun anyway. Hope there’s pay to it? Btw, your photos are getting really good. It’s so clear, either that or it looks better on my small phone.
Have an awesome weekend !!
You too! Yup, she’ll be paid all right…so no problem.
I really love the 5th pics of the group of cheerful students. It is giving a hope to all teachers.All the best to Melissa 🙂
Thanks. Ya, the kids look so pleasant, all so nice.
It’s wonderful that Melissa can work close to home. I agree that people in small towns are a whole lot more friendly. I wish Melissa all the best and I am sure she will enjoy her calling as a Cikgu!
Ya, count our blessings. Accessible by road, there’s water and electricity and hp and internet coverage. Can’t ask for more.
Wah, Cikgu Melissa. It is good she is so close to home. Can go back home every weekend. As I get older i prefer kampong lifestyle.
Me too. So laid-back, relax…serene… I would love staying there!
Yes, small towns schools are friendlier, that was what I heard… my friend’s son has been teaching in Maluri for the past 10 years or more. He is from Ipoh and has been transferred there ever since he graduated.. now he has settled down in that town with 3 kids and no plans of returning back to the penisular… 🙂 Good for Melissa too… she is so close to home sweet home.. 🙂
Where’s Maluri? You mean Marudi, here in Sarawak? Many West Malaysians here don’t want to go back and many went back – no choice, family commitments at home.
All the best to Melissa. 🙂
Thanks.
Not so demanding parents would have not so demanding children. Hence, less stress and less tension teaching in small towns school. It would be a good start for a fresh grad like Melissa. I am pretty sure Melissa would have got lots of advice from her beloved daddy.
No lah! She can manage well on her own – just a bit too serious about everything she does. I would tell her to relax a bit – can’t be perfect in every way all the time.
Selamat pagi Cikgu Melissa Wee…
Budak nakal! Diri di sana, tarek telinga! LOL!!! 😀
All the best, Melissa! You made your daddy proud!
Arthur, I thought you would be sharing with us some pics of the school canteen food?! 😀
Thanks. Didn’t see any canteen…so did not get to see any food around – maybe next trip, will probe a bit more. 😦
Indeed a nice and pleasant place. Fresh air and the chirpy sounds of the birds, I would like. Melissa is so lucky to get a place close to home, just 1 1/2 drive. Those kids are cute. Are they posing for you to take photo of them? .All the best to Cikgu Melissa and happy teaching.
Thanks. Nope, I just got out of the car and I saw them standing there…so I zoomed in and snapped their photo. I think there is a medical centre there too and I hear they post doctors there – very nice, impressive looking place, with quarters and all. Can ask your son to apply when he graduates. Wink! Wink! 😀
I would very much want him to apply there. Can save alot of $$$ cos not many entertainment places. After work, stay at home and watch TV only.
Ahhhh!!! Must KIV this place then. Can ask him to apply when the time comes. Next trip, I will go and take photos of the place and share.
Hope she enjoys teaching in this school!
I certainly hope so too.
good luck to melissa as she begins this chapter in her life. i was a schoolteacher for five months, just a temporary one, when i was in between form six and university. taught form one english and moral at a rural school in malacca. it was tough, cos the students had basically no understanding of english, so i had to teach in malay. and their discipline was low. but it was very memorable time 😀
Thanks. I guess it’s the same here. Not too sure if they know Malay either – probably just their own ethnic language.
The school looks so much different there, compared to here 😉
All the best to Melissa!
Looks different from the ones in the town here even – rural schools are like that, I guess…but pleasantly different. Not bad really. Thanks for your good wishes.
Arthur, the school compound looks lovely with all the pretty greeneries/garden too…should be a nice and enjoyable place for your daughter, no doubt 🙂
Yes, next trip I will go and look at some nice new houses in the vicinity. Who knows, I may just move and stay there… 😉
It always sadden me that creme de la creme of sponsored graduates are posted to rural schools. When I was teaching temporarily in SMK Methodist a couple of years ago, I did come across some teachers posted to town schools (by all means not insulting any teachers here) who barely speak any English despite being an English teacher! Try to go any universities in the country, the moment these students (most of them, not all) from Sibu start to converse in English, people will know they are from Sibu. The heavy accent! Not that we have many capable English teachers in Sibu. (No lah.. I’m not boot licking my former English teacher. Just merely stating the facts!)
I would say that it is very unfair to blame the teachers and I refuse to be drag into a discussion on the way things are going ESPECIALLY here in Sibu.
Why do you think I stopped giving tuition when I can easily make RM3-4K for two hours 4 days a week? I’d rather not earn that money – just let them all rot, for all I care – I found it most unrewarding unlike when I was teaching in the past…and I am indeed very glad my daughter’s posted to a rural school. Teaching in the town schools these days, probably Sibu especially, is not only a thankless job but a living hell these days…
I guess you and Lucy can breathe a sigh of relief now as the place Melissa is now not too ulu and too far. I guess she can even stay at home and commute everyday if she wants. Pakcik used to commute from Melaka to KL too.
West Malaysian highways and Sarawak roads, not the same. Some of the teachers do that, I hear, despite the poor conditions. Never mind – she can come back on weekends…and we can always drive there anytime…so free, nothing to do.
well the place seems great and safe,
i’m sure melissa would love there
and with those kids? boredom was not an issue
Yes, at such places, it may feel slow on weekends – been there, done that.
anyway the place somehow resembles here
It does, eh?
Nice pictures. I wanna be a teacher too! 😀
Come, come! Lots of vacancies, i’m sure…
Too old to apply, haha!
You are? But you’re so young? 😉 Hehehehehehe!!!!
“They were all so very nice and friendly “LOL at this.
I would too ..if it was the first time I met you….hahhahaha…
Why? Because I look so nice? Or they would be intimidated by my size? Hehehehehe!!!!
I think this school will give Melissa a good start – the school grounds has a gentleness about it, and just look at those cute kids and that cheeky poser! It will be a great teaching journey for Melissa. All the best, Melissa 🙂
Thanks. I hope she will – I most certainly would.
i found myself so ignorant reading this post, i am sure the Food Mayor is going to shoot me kaw kaw~~ first, i didn’t know Sibu is so big!! 1.5 hours drive and still within Sibu itself?? maybe to us in Peninsular, if not because of traffic congestion, this amount of time could bring us to another state already.. second, i thot just report to the school will do, didn’t know there’s such thing as the Education Office..
It’s one of the neighbouring districts – a small rural town, not exactly Sibu proper. 1.5 hours, if at Mid Valley…after all that time, you would still be in Mid Valley! Thank goodness we are spared such horrendous jams here.
Looks like a really nice and quiet place to teach in. So peaceful and relaxing. I myself wouldn’t mind teaching there were I a teacher. I wish your daughter all the best and may she enjoy her stint there.
Thank you. I do hope she’ll like it there – definitely more relaxing than the schools in the town.
Selangau, I dont know this place and never heard of it. :p
Good that Melissa got a school that near her home, at least she can spent her weekend in Sibu. 1.5.hour drive? Is there a bus going there?
Difficult parent? Like me? Hahahhahaa..at least teaching at rural school not so pressure like in town. When she start teaching?
Good luck and all the best to melissa!
Thanks. I can always drive up there, no problem…but Fridays, she’ll follow a colleague back to Sibu. Hah!!! Now you’ve heard of it – this is where the buses between Sibu-Bintulu stop for pee breaks.
All the best to Melissa…
Thanks.
good luck to Melissa on her new path in life! I m sure she wil excel….
great shot of the kids! love that awesome candid shot…they looked like angels there… lol… wink wink!!
Thanks, I certainly hope so. Ya…I liked the kids instantly – hopefully, they’re as nice as they look.
1.5 hours drive from Sibu…not too far..A good start for Melissa. All the best!
Not far at all. More or less like driving to Sarikei.
I’m sure the kids there are better than the ones in town and cities.. i’ve heard my friends teaching in town having headache when teaching the kids. O.o
They’re just not motivated to learn, just fool around day in, day out…creating mischief and having fun and that makes my daughter really sad and depressed. Hopefully, things will get better as she becomes more experienced.
Hi uncle, i came across your blogpost when googling “SK SG SEPIRING SELANGAU”, as I was trying to get the school’s valid phone number, but so far all the numbers I got are all incorrect 😦
I was wondering if you could please get Melissa to provide me the school’s penyelia asrama contact number? basically, I work at Makmur Educational Supplies, and we received a Purchase Order from the school, from Dayang Julia Bt Abang Junaidi, but she did not provide her contact number, therefore we are unable to contact her to liaise with her regarding her order.
We would really appreciate your kindness in helping us out! Thanks again in advance! 😀
Sorry, I don’t have the school contact number (maybe they do not have a landline number) but you can call the District Education office to find out:
Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Selangau
ppdselangau@moe.gov.my
Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Selangau,
Lot 363, Blok 15, New Township, Selangau 96000 Sibu
No. Telefon Am: 084-891126
No. Faks: 084-891124
The Education Officer’s name is JAMBAI ANAK SAYONG.
Sure, I will try that! Thanks for the help uncle! 😀
Welcome.