The clock ticks each second away, reminding me of how precious a commodity time has become ever since I embarked on the craziest chapter of my life yet.
But such an uncaring fiend it is, that Time. It devours everything in its path, relentlessly pushing forward, paying no heed to the myriad tasks that accumulate day by day.
I thought I knew what to expect—we all knew what was coming and braced ourselves as First Day approached. It came and went, and though we knew—oh, we knew—yet, Reality is still a difficult pill to swallow. And when you do swallow it, it brings with it a jolt and the shock of, Yeap, this is everything you expected—and so much more.
Every day, I grow more and more frustrated at the system that we are in, and am furious, depressed, saddened, heartbroken, all at once, at the situation that is my kids who can neither read nor write English. Their BM is no better. I can’t comprehend it, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t ask, “How can this happen?” How can this be happening??
How is it that these children are allowed to advance to the next level, when their abilities and proficiency clearly do not allow them to perform up to standard? Even my best student is at an intermediate primary school level. And each teacher is tasked to sew the patchwork on as best as he or she can. Where do I begin? This question haunts me every day. Where do I even begin to fix this mess of sloppy stitching?
I know, I know. Locus of control, et cetera. There are certain things which are beyond our control, and the infuriating state of our education system is one of those things. I may not be able to change the system. Not now, anyway. And that isn’t why I am here. “I want to change the world”—big words, tall order; but if I could change the world for even at least one of these kids, then that is why I am doing what I have chosen to do. But the upward climb is suddenly steep and very scary.
