LETTERS: Recently, my childhood friend and I visited our secondary school in Perak to talk to students sitting Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia next month.
We started the series last year with an online talk on "Do You Know Where You Are Going To?" to get them to start thinking about their life journey.
The Covid-19 era has enabled us to use technology creatively to rope in friends from around the globe for a good cause.
We shared our secondary education experience of not knowing our direction and how three decades on, we are still together and had come back to our school to share lifelong experiences with the students.
This time around, my friend and I met two batches of students. We focused on two key issues concerning Form 5 students.
FIRST was emotional intelligence (EQ); and,
SECOND was lifelong learning.
Besides imparting information on EQ and coping strategies to keep a positive mind during and post examination, my friend talked about the socio-emotions of parents with children in the exam year as she also had a daughter in Form 5.
I related to them my life story of how I had to forego my university education in the 1980s when my father left us and work to support my mother.
I joined the teachers' training college as it paid a monthly allowance with which I could support myself and provide for my mother.
But a fire was burning in me to continue my education to the highest level. I passed this flame of lifelong learning inspiration to students who attended our talks.
In the Covid-19 era, most families are facing financial difficulties and uncertainties.
So, students should strive to do their best in the examination. At the same time, they must understand that there are many routes to higher education.
It is important to support students so that they learn to keep themselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy during the examination period.
Associate Professor Dr Vishalache Balakrishnan
Director, Centre for Research in International and Comparative Education; coordinator of SULAM@Service Learning, Universiti Malaya
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
