Tag Archives: raising a son

Kolej Permata@Pintar Negara – Ee taking up the offer

Posted in Parenting, Family and Relationships by

Earlier on, KPPN was clear that there would be no second intake. So when our son was not in the initial line listing, we accepted the decision wholeheartedly. As parents, we geared him up ahead for the other allocated boarding school. After all, we were thinking, that surely everyone who gets a place at KPPN would accept the offer. It turns out, a few students (?parents) had a change of heart and decided to turn down the placement. And so our son and other kids whom he knew, were invited to fill in those empty seats.

Crash course on how to iron clothes and others..

In a way, KPPN was still right. This is not a second intake as they are registering on the same day.

What happened?

The call to us parents was made on Friday evening – I was reviewing fundus images and the phone line at the clinic was not stable, so I missed the call. Another call came through while I was driving and I couldn’t pick that up either. My husband also received 2 missed calls and managed to pick up the 3rd call. That was when he got to know about the news. Mr Husband conveyed the news to our son and his face immediately glowed with happiness. We asked him about his decision and without hesitance, he chose KPPN.

To be honest, I was equally pleased with his decision because it was a place that he was already familiar with because of PPCS a few weeks before. He already knew the system and the layout of the place. He knew some of the teachers which is good as well. Plus, he already has a few ‘start-up’ friends. He can find more. At least, I have no worries about the hostel part.

There were several forms to fill out and fees to pay according to income groups. Kumpulan 1 is for students with a total household income of more than RM5K. Kumpulan 2 is for those less than RM4999K and Kumpulan 3 is for students from Sabah and Sarawak. We are in Kumpulan 1. Without subsidy, the total payment is RM 4850.00 per year but after applying subsidy across all groups, Kumpulan 1 students pay RM 2155.00.

Kumpulan 2 RM 5350.00 >>>>> RM 1655.00

Kumpulan 3 RM 5600.00 >>>>> RM 1405.00

The fees can be paid in instalments.

Since I have already taken leave to send my daughter on her first day of school the week before, this time Mr Husband took leave to send our son Ee to his. Interestingly the charming daughter of our Malaysian astronaut, Bella, is also enrolled at the same centre.

Ee is in a room with two other students. I have yet to know their names. I hope they get along well together. There are a few plus points that I like about KPPN so far.

  • Students are allowed to bring their handphones. It is a must after all in today’s world. However, they could only have access to it over the weekends. I thought that was lenient enough and shouldn’t invite any complaints.
  • I saw the meal menu KPPN sent to their WA group. To me, the food they served for their students was so much better than what I tend to serve at home. Ha ha. I imagine Ee would enjoy his meals very much.
  • I liked that KPPN has provided their ‘takwim’ so that parents and students can plan their holidays/leaves.
  • KPPN is very family-friendly as there is at least a monthly schedule where students can choose to go back home for a sleepover. While this is not feasible for students who live far away, I like that the option is there. Family plays a part in ensuring that the student’s emotional tank is filled and geared up for the next study session.

InsyaAllah we will be seeing Ee this weekend. Parents are given permission to bring their children out for Iftar and return them to college at the agreed time. I am using hashtag Ee at Permata to document our experience, especially his, during his studies at Permata.

Pusat PERMATA Pintar Negara UKM – the journey ends here for my firstborn

Posted in Parenting, Family and Relationships by

[Update – We received a call 3 days before the registration date. Our son was offered to further his studies here. He was so thrilled and accepted the offer. I will be using the hashtag EE at Permata to document his life there]

Pusat Permata UKM is an educational institution with an intellectual program designed to groom students with exceptionally high IQ scores to their best potential. Before this program came about, these students could secure a place in elite boarding schools and were normally acknowledged as the creme of the creme in the country. This program was the brainchild of Rosmah Mansor, the infamous wife of Datuk Seri Najib Razak, former PM of Malaysia who was embroiled in several money-related controversies. I have to admit this is a great programme for students who could benefit from an alternative arm of our educational pathway.

Screening Process

Every primary school would encourage their students to sit for these exams. There are a few parts of the screening process. UKM1, UKM2, Program Penggayaan Cuti Sekolah (PPCS) and UKM3. UKM1 and UKM2 consisted of questions they answered on the computer. I gather that UKM1 has patterns to solve whereas UKM2 are general knowledge questions. It is best to refrain from helping your kids to answer these questions if we trust in their abilities. Once your child passes UKM2, both the child and parents will be notified of the next stage through email.

That would be the online interview. It is a 30-minute session that involves the parents in the 1st half and the child in the second half. It is carried out in both BM and English. It is a great session for the assessors to know the child’s background, personality, strengths and weaknesses. I honestly just answered what I think of my son because I know that if I lie – it is going to eventually show during the PPCS week. So I feel that his weaknesses should be known early so that they can be evaluated, monitored and addressed accordingly. If he fits what UKM is looking for – InsyaAllah there will be a place for him. If not, it is okay because as of now he is already expected to enrol in a secondary school under the ‘High Performance School’ category. These HPS schools tend to have allocated incentives and autonomy regarding financial management, curriculum design, human resources including student selection etc. Hence, for my son to be selected by the school is already a positive sign that his future remains bright (InsyaAllah) on the path of studying in a daily school.

So, opportunities are everywhere as long as we support his journey as parents.

PPCS

… is short for Program Penggayaan Cuti Sekolah. Kids are shuttled to their respective camps. Our son’s place was at Seremban. The kids will stay there for 2 weeks. Apart from attending their designated courses, the kids would also have the opportunity to learn how to manage themselves in the dormitory.

My son was enrolled in the CSI course. He said they taught him a lot of interesting things in matters of solving crimes etc. He also thought that the instructors and assistants were very knowledgeable and most importantly, endearing. It was also nice to hear positive feedback from his tutors about his demeanour at school. He was reported to be very mature for his age, plays by the rules and is not inclined towards finding fault with his friends. I am thrilled that he was able to make friends with kids of other ethnicities. I feel that is why I feel very strongly about wanting him to further his studies there. To mix with non-Malays and to improve on his English prowess.

UKM 3 assessment was conducted during PPCS and it was an important determinant that decided whether Ee is intellectually apt for the courses he is due to take during his stay there.

Unfortunately, despite the glowing reviews from his tutors – he did not make the mark. Which ends his journey for Pusat Permata Genius. It took some form of consoling him that his 2 weeks at PPCS was not a waste of time. And that he should be proud and take on a different perspective of what he could learn from the experience. After all, he did do things that were out of his comfort zone such as participating in Zapin and Ngajat dance.

Having said that, as a mother, I feel he still needs to work on being resilient. That, and emotional intelligence – especially in teenage boys. Because once they grow up as adults with low levels of EQ, despite being really smart, they become a pain. They hurt your feelings, a lot. They cannot read the room.

Congratulations to the anak2 who made it to the 2024 academic year

What’s next?

He was offered a place in a boarding school near home. I am not a fan of this institute and prefer that he stays in this daily school in town for reasons of wanting him to mingle with students outside his ethnicity. However, realizing my own cognitive and socioeconomic limitations on how best to guide a child with high intellectual capacity – I feel that boarding school is perhaps the next best thing that we could lead him to. I just hope his English abilities will be improved accordingly. The exposure to multiethnicity could come later as long as the nationalists/radicals don’t reach out to him first. I would hate for that to happen.

The challenges in raising children

Posted in Ponderings & Personal Development by

When parenting techniques and goals are not in line – that poses a challenge in itself. The best type of parenting is Authoritative Parenting. The least favourite are the Authoritarian, Permissive and Neglectful type.

One of the questions us parents got during the UKM Pintar interview was

What are the challenges in nurturing our son?

My husband had a long pause. I’ve already got a list in my head but I had to be careful with what I choose to say as it may affect his chances to enter the institution. I said something about his lack of possessing street-smart skills. My son is undeniably good in math-like logical thinking, solving sequence problems and such but he falls short of the ability to solve OTHER worldly problems. Just the other day I brought him to a recycling bin near LOTUS. It took a while for him to figure out how to open the bin. He kept looking back at me, giving me the eye that signals for my help. I stayed put in my car and told him to find a solution. Once he did, he struggled a bit to open it because it was a bit heavy but not too heavy for a 12 year old. I know. He just needed to put in some muscle strength to it. I thought he would give it another go but he stopped and just stood there. Waiting for me to rescue. I REFUSED TO HELP HIM. Instead, I told him to try again. After much trying, he finally managed to get the bin to open.

This is not the first time he exhibited this sort of behaviour. When he was a toddler, around the age of 4, his paternal grandfather placed some cushions in his walking pathway, wanting him to find a way to pass through the cushions. Instead of climbing the cushion or finding spaces in between to walk through the obstruction – he stopped in his path and just stared at the cushion. He went back the way he came and did not even explore the cushions in front of him. That was when I knew that with my son – if he is to survive the streets – he needs to be taught on every single, nitty gritty ways of living.

Like knowing when to throw the trash, wiping the dinner table, keeping a clean desk, hanging his clothes to dry, folding the socks, washing his shoes, BRUSHING HIS TEETH! Then, as parents – there is a need to mould some sort of emotional intelligence or empathy in his interactions with other people. Despite living in a Melakan environment – all this sort of ‘gurau kasar’ talk is not going to be beneficial for him. He should not talk like a Melakan adult. He should not think that attending school programmes and helping teachers is a waste of time. He should not use the word Keling even if that is what the elders before us use in their conversations with their friends. While to them it is more of a descriptive word for a person – society nowadays see that as racist.

Kids with high IQ have been known to have low EQ. Rarely do we see those who could have both. If your child is one of those who have both – good for you but don’t say that the statement is not true. high IQ kids with low EQ, if they are not nurtured appropriately will grow up to become arrogant, narcissistic adults who thinks they are always right without an ounce of thought and guilt towards other people.