He Beat The Odds But Not Time: SMK Gemas Boy Dies Before Getting To See His A

The vocational subject teacher emphasizes the importance of focusing on a students’ strengths and not judging their success based on grades alone.

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A caring and dedicated teacher, invested in their students’ growth and well-being, can often foster a close, almost parental bond.This is why the loss of a student can hit hard for some educators who have spent a lot of time nurturing these young minds.

Muslim Ismail, a school teacher at SMK Gemas, Negeri Sembilan, recently shared on his Facebook account about a student in his school who stood out not for obvious reasons.

He spoke about how the student was almost expelled when he was in Form 4 because he was skipping school, but with the help of a special needs teacher, the student started coming back to school.

“He was a good and straight student, no disciplinary issues, only skipped school a lot. Maybe the school world wasn’t friendly to him.

“The academic field which is full of competition and comparison probably drove him away from it due to his poor comprehension and memory,” he said in his Facebook post.

Appreciation and acknolwedgement are all it takes

Muslim said the student loved to sing, and so he placed the boy in the school’s poetry and song club. They never won any competitions but the student started to come back to school, probably because he felt appreciated and valued.

“That might have been his only good memory in school,” he said.

Just like adults in the workplace, young students need to feel appreciated and acknowledged too.

The Landscape and Nursery vocational subject teacher said the student never passed his exams, but he was hardworking when it came to completing his assignments, even though his work was not always perfect.

Muslim explained that he had never gotten angry because he understood the boy’s shortcomings.

The pupil finally passed a subject, but never lived to see it

The student sat for his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination last year, and Muslim shared his result slip as the 2024 SPM results were announced on Thursday (24 April).

The boy had finally earned his A – in the Landscape and Nursery subject.

Unfortunately, in a heartwrenching turn of events, the student passed away last Monday (21 April) from an infection after an appendix surgery, and he never got to see his achievement.

Many social media users offered their condolences to the teacher and praised the student, noting that his only A was in Muslim’s class.

“Suddenly miss him. A boy who was very well-behaved,” said Mas Masliana, another teacher who worked at SMK Gemas.

The post’s deeply emotional conclusion further intensified the sadness felt by those who read it.

Muslim ended his story of the boy with: “You don’t have a lot of sins, maybe you can help me when the time comes, if I’m on the other side, ask God to forgive me.”

The teacher believes every student has their own strengths

In a separate post, Muslim said that the Education Ministry should ensure every students’ strength are celebrated.

Speaking on the SPM examination, he said comparing achievements between different subjects should not be used as a measuring stick to determine a teacher’s success.

This is because the assessment methods and level of difficulty differ from each candidate’s predisposition and abilities.

“Every teacher has a role to play across all subjects. For example, phsyical education or sports has a major influence on a student’s success in SPM, mainly in managing study stress.

“Another example would be although a student fails in mathematics, perhaps the teacher has taught the student to think logically, which may help in other subjects,” he said.

His wise words garnered many approving comments from netizens, with other educators finding the post inspirational.