Reported by:
Tan Qi Xuan Sr1A
From the 11th to 16th of April 2022, the Chinese Language Society held a Chinese Education Week to introduce students to Chinese education and the hardships it faced in Malaysia. One of the many events organised was Short Story Sharing through the school broadcast every morning of the week.
The event kicked off with an exclusive interview with Kuen Cheng High School’s beloved Principal, Dr. Chua Lee Lee, who is a strong and loyal supporter to Chinese education in Malaysia. The rest of the week was then devoted to prestigious figures of Chinese education in our country. Below are two of the stories.
When he worked as a guard in a factory, Xiong Yusheng was often called a loud man due to his naturally booming voice, direct speech, and determination. A native of Damansara New Village（新村）and the chairman of a Buddhist temple in the village, he has many feelings for the place he grew up in and was a man of justice and righteousness. He didn’t have the chance to complete even elementary-level education, but his sons and grandchildren all went to a school named Damansara Chinese Primary School, and thus loved the school dearly.
Xiong Yusheng’s courage and sense of responsibility were always his best assets, as seen when he took on the leadership role amongst the villagers. Once, he took the villagers to pay the Minister of Education a visit during the Chinese Lunar New Year, but the Minister refused to meet him. Later on, the villagers huddled together to block the minister’s car under the orders of Xiong Yusheng, and when the minister nervously rolled down the car window, they merely gave him a few mandarins and cheerfully said, “Don’t be afraid, we just wanted to greet you.”
On 8th March 2008, the national election happened, and the replacement of five state governments led to the reopening of Damansara Primary in 2009. Two days later, Xiong Yusheng passed away due to illness. Every year, a member of the Damansara Chinese Primary School Working Committee gathers their students and staff to pay memorial tribute to their saviour, the down-to-earth, courageous, respectable Xiong Yusheng.
On the other hand, Mr. Chen Jiajie was a unique teacher, who only taught one student in one Chinese school. How did he become one of the most celebrated figures in the Chinese society of our country?
Mr. Chen Jiajie once taught in Fraser’s Hill Chinese Primary School after graduating from university. He was disappointed to learn that the school only had one student, two teachers, and one principal, even more so when he was supposed to teach the lonesome pupil for the next five years, but he gathered his emotions and persevered until the very end, watching over his student till graduation.
His student, Chen Qixian, was the only student in the school ever since third grade in 2015, and until he graduated in 2018. Due to having no classmates or friends for a long time, Chen Qixian was extremely shy and closed-off. In addition, the school’s performance falls on Chen Qixian alone. Therefore, the principal, teachers, and his parents had high hopes for him, hoping that he would achieve great results in the UPSR examination for the primary six appraisal, but this had invisibly produced a great burden on him.
In order to cultivate his confidence, Mr. Chen encouraged him to participate in curricular activities, such as school sports, English storytelling competitions, Chinese speech competitions, and more. He also urged his pupil to make friends with students from other schools, and as a result, Chen Qixian garnered some self-esteem and courage after a while. He even won the runner-up in the county-level English storytelling competition and the county-level Chinese speech excellence award, which made him feel better about himself.
In 2018, Chen Qixian passed UPSR and graduated successfully. It was the 80th anniversary of the founding of the school, and under the witness of Fraser’s Hill villagers, previous alumni, and teachers, the last student finally graduated. After Chen Qixian graduated, Fraser’s Hill Chinese Primary School was temporarily closed, waiting to be relocated. Later in 2019, Mr. Chen Jiajie was transferred to teach at Batang Kali Chinese Primary School.
The perseverance of Mr. Chen Jiajie is a noteworthy lesson to be learnt. Even if there was only one student in the school, he insisted on teaching until the student graduated. The great, self-sacrificing action is not only due to the responsibility Mr. Chen felt for his career, but also for his pupil. It is precisely because of his efforts that not only made us aware of the important role teachers play in the life of students, but also reflected the predicament faced by Chinese education in Malaysia. Therefore, we must continue to defend Chinese education and consolidate Chinese culture as a whole.
With Mr. Chen Jiajie’s awe inspiring story, the broadcast event came to an end, though there were other fascinating programs that were yet to come.
