Every time I visit Goducate’s Literacy Centers in Sabah, I am amazed by the quality of the teachers. They may lack the professional diplomas or the grasp of the intricacies of English grammar but they more than make up for these by their passion and love for the kids they teach.
When I see them teaching in the little run-down classrooms, using the simplest teaching aids, I am convinced that teaching is more a passion than a profession!
Because Goducate believes in helping the needy to help themselves, Goducate trains local mums to teach their own kampong children. This strategy has worked well thus far. Besides the passion that these mums bring to their teaching each day, this strategy is extremely cost-effective and sustainable.
After almost 3 years of developing literacy centers for the illegal aliens in Sabah, we have now discovered another rich teacher resource – namely, our former students who can now teach what they have learned from us!
Several of these students have already joined our “faculty” as assistant teachers and then moved on to being full-fledged literacy teachers, while at the same time continuing with their own schooling. Every time, I see one of these teenage teachers I am assured that Goducate’s philosophy of helping people to help themselves is more than a slogan – it is a reality.
On my most recent trip, when I was introduced to the new teachers I was pleasantly shocked to be introduced to a 12 year old teacher. Azmi was always an outstanding student and I was sure that he would be special but to see him join the “faculty” at the age of 12 was more than I could imagine.
Azmi is not a teenage teacher, he is a “child” teacher! Thankfully, it’s not child labor but a labor of love for Azmi to teach his fellow kampong mates!
