Anak pegi sekolah..

Monday I sent my kids to school.

Adik dah boring duduk rumah. After 2 weeks of holiday she had started asking when school starts. So Monday morning tak sempat nak gerak, she jumped of the bed.

“Is it school time already ?” She jumped happily at my yes.

Ha ha… sekejap je tu.

I was quite sad when I helped her pun on her clothes. Dah besar anak mak. Takde dah baby lagi… WAAAAAA !!

Aku tanya dia, "Awat tangkap gambaq muka macam Yoda ni ?" teruih wooo mintak cermin and belek-belek... Hmmm....

But then, well… kalau aku ada baby karang, lagi 7 tahun pun aku tensen gak lagi… So kena tambah baby baru lak…Bila nak habis ? Ha ha…

Send Abang to school first. I got a bit teary when he walked towards school. “Bye baby…. My baby…. Bye baby boy…. My little boy ! My little boy….!” Luckily he didn’t roll his eyes but smiled indulgently at me. Aww…. My sweetheart….

Adik was excited. Super excited. Sampai-sampai, there were loads of parents milling about. Sekolah baru kan, so mak bapak yang anak dah season pun masih tunggu lagi.

Anak DR was already seated on the second row. Sampai awai kan. But when she saw Adik, teruih angkut bag and pindah to the last row. Sorry aa DR…. Nanti aku bagitau cikgu suruh pindah kat depan. They need it pun. Dari mula sampai habis sekolah dok pot pet pot pet. Hai…. Macam mak depa gak.

Orang lain dok termenung ingat mak kat romah, depa dua dah buat havoc...

I had high hopes for the school, it being under JAIS and all but to know that JAIS had forgotten about the new school wasn’t very encouraging. The students had no books and no teachers. NO TEACHERS for standard 1 okay.

Also, asking the stand-in teacher and getting “Saya tak tahu…”each and everytime was very frustrating. Tanya rehat pukul berapa pun tak tahu. Hari Jumaat balik pukul berapa lagilah.

Babah being a nervous parent wasn’t happy. Things were bad even during recess. Makanan tak cukup. My friend Jubei got upset when 10 minutes before recess, seeing the dwindling amount of food left asked the makcik kantin, “Cukup ke makanan ?” was answered by ,”Tengah nak masak ni…”

Apa dia tu, Bah oi...

Ada ke. As expected my daughter didn’t get any food. Nor DR’s daughter. So when the bell rang, none of the kids went back to class. DR’s daughter got her plate of meehoon almost 30 minutes after.

Sigh.

We went to Abang’s school after Adik’s first recess to pay his school fees. Seeing my niece Esya sitting in a very calm classroom, colouring and all was quite despairing when I thought of the chaos at Adik's school.

Sigh again.

It was Abang’s recess time when we got there. I couldn’t locate him in the canteen at all, so I started shouting his name. Baru nak jerit kuat sikit, Babah covered my mouth. “Ish awak ni… Malu dia nanti…”

I turned around and my heart soared when I saw him walking towards the canteen. Pegi toilet rupanya sayang Mummy ni…..

With his friends, dok bersembang apa dia tak tau...

We left him to his friends. Babah and I sat on a chair at a walkway connecting the canteen to the school. There were a few pengawas standing near us. Imagine our shock when a sweet girl wanted to pass, they started interrogating her. She must have not given satisfactory answers as she was turned away.

What could a sweet little girl do ?

“Dik… dik…” I called to them.

Tak jawab.

“Yang.. yang…”

Tak jawab gak.

“Pengawas…”

Teruih pandang.

“Tak boleh lalu ke kat sini ?” I asked.

“Tak boleh… Cuma boleh pegi kedai buku atau tandas sahaja..”

Hmmm..... Yeah... I remember this. I was a pengawas twice. Keh keh… Saja je…

“Makcik ngan pakcik nak lalu boleh ke ?”

Terkulat-kulat budak 3 orang tu, but then tak sempat jawab, the bell rang. Cess. Would be interesting to know their answers.

Anyway, we went to Abang’s class to pay his fees.

And I had a glimpsed of how very different today’s 10 year old are when compared to when I was that age.

While Babah talked to Abang’s teacher, I saw a boy trying to unbutton the collar of a prefect classmate. When he was unsuccessful, I of course offered my help. Malu budak tu but he agreed. Must be suffocating for him. Sian.

As I struggled to help him, a classmate (well Umar’s classmate too) passed by and said, “Gatal bang…”.

Excuse me ?

Berani nya hang ? Aku ni ada depan hang ni. Tak takut langsung ke ? Tak hormat ? Aku of course kerut muka when I looked at him tapi tak sempat because he had already taken his seat. I hope Abang tak kawan dengan budak tu. I am sorry. But having no respect for your elders is something that I do not want my son to catch.

Anyway, we went home for awhile before going back to Adik's for her second recess. Haluihnya anak aku…. Seriau tengok. I wouldn’t let Babah help her, so it was excruciating to watch her calling the makcik kantin but makcik kantin tak nampak.

After watching her walk back to class for… well…playing, we rushed to pick Abang up. When we went back to the school to take her home, we weren’t allowed to as all students must perform their Dzuhur first before going home. Then why lah you tell me her class finishes at a certain time when it is not ?

All in all, I wasn’t happy but I take it as a dugaan from Allah SWT. I had wanted my daughter to go to this school, for her to be in an Islamic environment which I feel could save her from what ails the world today, so I must be patient. This is just a glich.

Babah wasn’t happy the next day either. He was thinking of taking another day off just to make sure everything is okay, the teacher in place, but then he can’t. Plus, Adik was shooing us away as we stood watching her. 2 boys were crying their eyes out for their mums and my daughter was asking for privacy. Hmm… baguslah. I of course felt very sad that these 2 boys love their mummies more than my daughter love hers.

Anyway, crazy self-depreciating thoughts aside, we must hope for the best, Babah. Allah will guide us.