There were plenty of memorable moments when i was studying in SRSYP or Sekolah Rendah ( jenis Inggeris) Sultan Yahya Petra, Kuala Krai Kelantan from 1971-1976. As the the oldest English school in the Ulu Kelantan district, the school not only hosted many historic moments since its humble beginning in 1951 but also the pride for many of its illustrious pupils who set foot in the school before. I am not going into details about the school, i just want to share my lasting memory during my final year in the school.
There were entrances at each end of the block. One entrance closest to the street was shared between Blue class (kelas biru) and Green class. The other entrance was shared between Red Class and Yellow class. Another entrance in the middle was for the school lab. That was my earliest exposure to bunsen burner and test tubes.Too bad, none of us grew up to win a noble prize in science.
The school allowed the standard 5 and 6 students the privilege of wearing black leather/PVC shoes to school. Somehow, the same privilege had been abused time and time again by most of the students then. This came to the attention of our discipline teacher, Mr Lien ( aka Lion) ) who had enough of these abuses and decided to go after the "multi colored" and "multi racial" wearers during one Sunday morning school assembly. Most of them wore their raya or deepavali shoes, not many in the case of chinese students during my time except a handful like Ho Kee Aik and Teo Chin Beng.
Well, those days the Indians in Kuala Krai tend to be a bit colorful and it was not difficult for Mr Lien to spot the offenders and lined them in front of the school assembly. I was praying hard that he didn't see my red brownish shoes, almost similar to the picture below and thanked to my lucky star, i escaped the humiliation of being paraded in front of the assembly. Come to think about it, would he want to punish one of his star* student ? Nayy, cronyism was already taking place during those time.
Beside the right to wear black leather shoes, as a standard 6 student, we were allowed to use pen with ink for our school works. Only black ink pen was allowed and not ballpoint for school works. Majority of us were using "Pilot" brand pen, one of the cheapest and most reliable pen at that time. During our breaks between classes, we engaged in games using pen, geometry set or occasionally our steel school badges, unlike the soft badge currently in use.
One day, during one of the between classes game, I accidentally poked my pen's tip into the soft wooden flooring. When i pulled the pen, the tip remained stuck in the wood flooring and my spontaneous reaction next was the laughing stock of the day.
When i saw the pen without its tip, i started yelling " mata Mat hilang, mata Mat hilang...". It was a panic moment for me. Farid Hassan remembers well this incident and now of course i take it as a glimpse from the past. Our relationship among the classmates then was very close, we were like brothers and we could address ourselves with our first names instead of saya or aku (too bad we were not that friendly towards the girls then, perhaps because of the rivalry since we were in standard 2). The boys and the girls rivalry can be detailed out in my next episode and of course with the permission from the main actors and actresses.
4) In Flood , we serve !
The island school block also was used as the storage to protect all the school furnishing and assets from flood water. Before the end of the school year in November, we would carry all the school stuffs from the lower blocks across the street to the upper ground Island block. The whole student population took part in the migration process so that when the monsoon season started during the year end school holidays and the area got flooded, it would not affect the school assets in the lower ground.
Sadly to say, all these historic buildings are all gone with the modernization and over ambitious officials to convert old school buildings into a modern 3 storey school buildings as what you can see nowadays in Malaysia. We, not only lost our school buildings but we also lost our school identity. Our school name has been changed and our school badge has also being changed. Now we are only known as Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Yahya 1 with the school badge motto "Hidup Berjasa" what happened to the old motto of " steadfast in duty"?
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| SRSYP school building facing the playing field . We used this block for standard 1(morning) and std 2(afternoon). It has now being demolished to make way for the modern school block. |
1) The Island Classroom
As a standard 6 pupil, we occupied a one storey wooden building up the hill across the street opposite the main school complex. For me, it was a special location away from the mainstream students population and it gave us the freedom in noise decibel away from the headmaster and the teachers who occupied administrative building across the street. The wooden school block consisted of 4 classrooms and one science lab (very rare to have a science lab in primary schools in those days). It was made of high cement pillars with wooden flooring and walls. We actually had to climb up stairs to get into our classrooms and space underneath the classrooms was high enough for our playgrounds. |
| The standard 6 block, standing pretty away from the main buildings. |
There were entrances at each end of the block. One entrance closest to the street was shared between Blue class (kelas biru) and Green class. The other entrance was shared between Red Class and Yellow class. Another entrance in the middle was for the school lab. That was my earliest exposure to bunsen burner and test tubes.Too bad, none of us grew up to win a noble prize in science.
 |
| The administrative building housing the teachers' and headmaster's room. It started as a hostel for the expatriate planters' kids. |
2) The "abused" privileges
The school allowed the standard 5 and 6 students the privilege of wearing black leather/PVC shoes to school. Somehow, the same privilege had been abused time and time again by most of the students then. This came to the attention of our discipline teacher, Mr Lien ( aka Lion) ) who had enough of these abuses and decided to go after the "multi colored" and "multi racial" wearers during one Sunday morning school assembly. Most of them wore their raya or deepavali shoes, not many in the case of chinese students during my time except a handful like Ho Kee Aik and Teo Chin Beng.
Well, those days the Indians in Kuala Krai tend to be a bit colorful and it was not difficult for Mr Lien to spot the offenders and lined them in front of the school assembly. I was praying hard that he didn't see my red brownish shoes, almost similar to the picture below and thanked to my lucky star, i escaped the humiliation of being paraded in front of the assembly. Come to think about it, would he want to punish one of his star* student ? Nayy, cronyism was already taking place during those time.
3) The Pen Game
Beside the right to wear black leather shoes, as a standard 6 student, we were allowed to use pen with ink for our school works. Only black ink pen was allowed and not ballpoint for school works. Majority of us were using "Pilot" brand pen, one of the cheapest and most reliable pen at that time. During our breaks between classes, we engaged in games using pen, geometry set or occasionally our steel school badges, unlike the soft badge currently in use.
 |
| Pilot Pen |
One day, during one of the between classes game, I accidentally poked my pen's tip into the soft wooden flooring. When i pulled the pen, the tip remained stuck in the wood flooring and my spontaneous reaction next was the laughing stock of the day.
When i saw the pen without its tip, i started yelling " mata Mat hilang, mata Mat hilang...". It was a panic moment for me. Farid Hassan remembers well this incident and now of course i take it as a glimpse from the past. Our relationship among the classmates then was very close, we were like brothers and we could address ourselves with our first names instead of saya or aku (too bad we were not that friendly towards the girls then, perhaps because of the rivalry since we were in standard 2). The boys and the girls rivalry can be detailed out in my next episode and of course with the permission from the main actors and actresses.
4) In Flood , we serve !
The island school block also was used as the storage to protect all the school furnishing and assets from flood water. Before the end of the school year in November, we would carry all the school stuffs from the lower blocks across the street to the upper ground Island block. The whole student population took part in the migration process so that when the monsoon season started during the year end school holidays and the area got flooded, it would not affect the school assets in the lower ground.
.jpg) |
| new motto |
Sadly to say, all these historic buildings are all gone with the modernization and over ambitious officials to convert old school buildings into a modern 3 storey school buildings as what you can see nowadays in Malaysia. We, not only lost our school buildings but we also lost our school identity. Our school name has been changed and our school badge has also being changed. Now we are only known as Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Yahya 1 with the school badge motto "Hidup Berjasa" what happened to the old motto of " steadfast in duty"?
 |
| modern school labs |
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