The children’s SPM results

I got a call from Mas last Saturday. She wanted to know if she could get any financial assistance from us Buddies if her eldest daughter gets offered to further her studies at any of the higher learning institutions or if the girl continues her schooling in form 6. Her daughter sat for her SPM last year and obtained 4A’s and 5B’s.

Mas is one of our newer clients, having been assigned to us only last year, after moving back to her hometown in Perak last year. Her children received help from our Children Education Fund. Being a non-working single mother, Mas receives monthly aid from the Welfare Department, but that obviously is not enough for her to support her 4 schooling children. She’s still recuperating from a stroke she suffered last year, so getting a job for the moment is out of the question. She now stays with her mother at her mother’s kampong house.

Back to her daughter, the girl plans to either continue with form 6 or to apply for either a Diploma in Accountancy or Islamic Banking. Our CEF covers schooling expenses up to form 6, so we shouldn’t have any problem supporting her schooling needs should the girl decide to continue with form 6. While Mas would be happy should her girl get a place at any of the higher learning institutions, her main worry is all the fees and other payments that need to be made during registration, which will come up to hundreds of Ringgit.

Although our CEF does not cover expenses for higher education, usually I do get donations from friends from time to time to be used at my discretion for the poor families I deal with. Registration needs for the children’s higher education is an example of how I’d be using some of the money donated though me.

After Mas called me, I suddenly remembered that Fuzi’s eldest daughter too sat for her SPM last year. So I immediately called her and was told that Wina, the daughter, scored 7A 2B. Fuzi passed the phone over to Wina so I could speak to the girl myself, since the girl wanted to seek my advise on what courses she should be applying for. Apparently someone had been advising her to apply for medic or pharmacy, when she didn’t even sit for Biology, Chemistry or Physics. After listening to her, I hope she will get a place at any of the matriculation colleges. At least she will have more time to really decide on what course she’s really interested in.

Another sponsored child who sat for his SPM last year was Lin’s son. The boy’s interest had never been in the academic line, which was why he chose Kimpalan (Welding) as one of his subjects for SPM, and true enough, that was the only subject that he scored an A. With 3B’s and 2C’s he also barely managed to pass his Maths and failed his English. Definitely not eligible to apply for any of the diploma courses available. Seeing his interest in welding, I had advised him earlier this year to apply for the Sijil Teknologi Kimpalan course, but the boy was rather reluctant because the place where the course is offered is out of town and he’d have to stay in a hostel instead of commuting from home. But today when I spoke to his mother, I was told the boy had changed his mind and will be applying for the course that I recommended to him.

Great! Hopefully all 3 of them will manage to get a place at any of the institutions they are applying for. I just want them to have a better future with better qualifications.