5th PFS student leadership workshop

I posted this picture (below) on facebook last night just to tell the Old Frees community that we have concluded the latest student leadership workshop at Penang Free School.

This was the fifth workshop in three years -- my friends and I have been conducting them since 2017 -- and it was aimed mainly at the Sixth Formers in the school. Holding the workshop for students of that level can be pretty exhilarating as it also exposes us, the coaches, to the thought processes of the future leaders of this country. Of course, nobody was perfect and amidst the imperfections, there was the opportunity for us to help mould their thinking and channel their energies into the right direction. Hopefully, we have succeeded to an extent because the hard work for them has just begun, and they have to do it by themselves. As coaches, we can only remain on the sidelines and cheer them on.

Soon after I had posted the picture, someone -- obviously an armchair critic -- commented, "Leadership from PFS, what a joke is not the sixties or seventies!" which prompted me to reply: "Today is not like the 60s or 70s, and the 60s and 70s are not like the 30s. Each generation is different. We all know what's happening to education in this country. The bigger concern is what are you personally going to do about it? Are you prepared to do your small part to help the present Frees, whatever way you can?"

One cannot make comparisons. One's own generation was always the "best", the "best" in everything, including education. Later generations are always treated as sub-standard, to be shown disdain. But is it the fault of the present Frees? My friends and I believe that the best solution is to help them in whatever way we can. We devised this student leadership workshop which was conducted over two full weekends, four days in total, from 8.30 in the morning till 6.30 in the evening.

Over five workshops, we have had about 100 students that participated: a hundred students who were handpicked by the teachers and then interviewed or vetted by us before they were accepted into the programme. For almost all of them, the workshops were their first exposures to learning outside the classroom. If anyone were shy initially, they came away totally changed after four days.

We believe that if we manage to touch the life of even one present-day Free School student, it would be ample enough reward for us. More Old Frees should step forward to do their little bit. Together, we can help our alma mater move forward.