SRJK (C) Kok Min, Sitiawan

Some of my present friends would probably be surprised that this 'banana' (yours truly) also attended a Chinese school. Well, I spent 5 years in SRJK (C) Kok Min Afternoon School. In Std 5, I stopped cos it was my Ujian Penilaian year. That was way before the introduction of UPSR. Std 6 used to be a fun year cos we would have a whole year of fun and learning.... with no major exam hanging over our heads.

Anyway, afternoon Chinese school meant another 2 and a half hours of instruction in Chinese after normal school which ended at 1.00 p.m. We'd have all the subjects except Maths and Science.

This school was another place which featured regularly in my life during my primary school days. Because of its proximity to our houses, it also ended up as our playground. It was where I learned to cycle and ride the motorbike. Dad taught Mom to drive there a couple of times but she never did get her license. Dad didn't think it necessary.

My badminton skills were honed here but the outdoor court has made way for this structure. School holidays would mean showing up at the court at the break of dawn for badminton; as early as 6.30 a.m. most mornings during weekends and hols. We actually got ourselves up at such unearthly hour to play. I hardly hear of kids doing that these days; they prefer to sleep. Sometimes for the fun of it, we'd light candles around the court. I'd play with my bros and neighbourhood kids till it became too hot; usually by 9 a.m. We'd scrooge to share to buy the shuttles. In the evenings, I'd sometimes get to play with my dad and his friends. And when their group stopped playing, we had our own group. This went on till my secondary days.

Right in front of the old court used to stand this monkey bar with 2 big trees on each side. That was where we would play 'catch-catch' during recess... us girls had no reservations clambering right up to the top of the tree! We were really tomboyish! It was one of the games which we really enjoyed. That, apart from the game of hide and seek which we also used to play around the school. There were plenty of nooks and corners to hide.

The school now has 2 indoor badminton courts. This New Year I went back there (as in last new year too) to play badminton with our old friends (Sam, WJ and their kids); that was just 2 days before Grandma passed away. We did the same last year too. This is the only recognizable building to me. The old wooden block was where our classes used to be.

The field opposite the block is where we'd play kites during the kite season. The big field gave us lots of space to play. Top spinning session would sometimes find us playing tops along the corridor of the blocks. My earliest memory of play there was when we first moved to the area. My dad had bought us this toy tractor that could push sand... we took it to the long jump pit to see if it could really do it. I think I was around 6 or 7 then.

Fond memories here and I actually have quite a lot of them. More of play than learning Mandarin. I remember writing hanyu pinyin for most of the characters. We had a strict teacher but we didn't take it too seriously. But most of us who went there came out of it being able to speak Mandarin. Some of us could actually read quite well. But school was something we enjoyed cos we got to play with friends.

Schools those days were were more than schools. They were also community centres. The compound was opened for the neighbourhood kids to use. These days, they are gated because of vandalism. Anyway, this is Kok Min, my lesser alma mater.