Happy Birthday !! Happy Birthday !!

Today is my birthday !!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!!!!!!!!...... Hahahahah.... !! What is my next goal ?? Ermmmm..., still thinking about it.... I thank Allah swt for the blessing and for the good health. Giving me a lot compare to what I gave Him in return..... (this need to be changed !!) And also with the kids getting smarter, naughtier but loveable each day, making my life feel so complete. And to make the picture look more perfect, my husband - the other half of me - my soul, my lover, my best friend and sometimes my "cross-examine lawyer" (hahahhaha...) is always there ....... for me. I can't ask more than this..... Alhamdulillah.....

FEB - Month 4 Lovers

ollaaa peeepsss....

Apasal eekkk ?? Bila tiba bulan Feb jer, everybody sibuk nak merayakan "Valentine" ?? Tak kisahlah kalau depa nih bukan orang Islam. Yang meworrykan aku nih pasal orang ISLAM pun sama sibuk.... Tak yahlah nak citer pepanjang pasal asal usul St Valentine nih kan..?? Korang pun dah besar and terpelajar pikir sendirilah.... Cuma satu jer yang membuatkan aku terfikir panjang.... What are the impacts to our children : The NEXT Generation. Dengan keadaan perang di GAZA, kebuluran disana sini, ekonomi yang merudum dan macam macam lagi... Sebenarnya, kasih sayang tak payah ditonjolkan pada satu hari tertentu.... bila bila masa lagi bagus... spontan dan surprise jer.... At one time, masa zaman aku tak tau ..mmglah terasa sungguh seronok dan mengasyikan, tetapi setelah dewasa dan sedikit matang (hehehe....) barulah menyedari bahawa keasyikkan itulah yang akan melalaikan kita...... Ade yang sampai tarik muka sbb BF tak beri hadiah bunga ker, coklat ker etc...... hehehehhe kelakor lak.... sbb bila dah sampai satu tahap, benda benda nih bukan menjamin kebahagian, kekayaan

Second Term In PTA

Hehehehhee.... that was why I told you all about PTA yesterday..... It is becoz I am one of the active members. Well..... hmmmmm..... how should I begin to write for this new 2009 - 2011 term and the new line of peoples. Last term, I held one of the few top posts. But this year, I'll be looking at the new angle as I am only a normal member. What I can comment about our community is that, who ever bersuara lantang and make a comment, walaupun secara membina, will not be a favourite choice. I know myself... I will voice out my thought when I think it's needed. So, ade ler insan-insan sensetif yang tak dapat terima komen-komen tersebut..... tapi kan entah macama mana, nama I terselit gak kat dalam pencalonan tu and terpilih. Actually, after a very hard work during the 2006 - 2008 term, I don't think I would like to be involved again. Apa salahnyer kan beri orang lain plak chance untuk menganggotai pasukan ni. I am proud to say that, last term, our team had done indeed very well.... remarkably excellence.. !! Dapat kumpul duit banyak, full of activities and dapat berganding bahu dengan pihak sekolah. Malah nama sekolah kami selalu ler terpampang dalam akhbar-akhbar tempatan. Guru Besar pun boleh tersenyum sampai nampak gigi... hehhehe......

So, yesterday was our first meeting for this term. Ermmmm.... all the top post peoples ( as i predicted already... ehhehe ) a bit mellow and seems to agree with all the ideas, suggestion made by the school and the chairperson.. No questions asked !!! NO kidding.... and NO joke !! No further discussion as whether the ideas was ok or not or whether others have any ideas beside using the current funds and etc.. etc... etc... Not that I wanna think otherwise, as if ( as usual ) an agreement has been sealed between them. Hello ????!!!!!!

First thing first, ( i think ) the chairperson should took the ideas and further discuss this in our second meeting ( which will be in 2 weeks time .. ). Second thing, the chaiperson or the hons. secretary should table a presentation on what the PTA would like to do in the future. Lastly, the hons treasurer should come out with a budget ( an outline - paling tidak ler... ) for the year 2009. But wanno know sumthin' , the HM really did her homework .... bravooo..... ( **clap... clap... clappp...** ). She gave us not 1 but 2 working paper on how she needs the funds to be spend for the year 2009..... !!!!!!!!!!! keh keh keh keh keh .... aku gelak sengsorang jer.....

There should be no decision making in the first meeting as the member still need to know the new exco. We should have the "breaking the ice" session like the usual - being done in most of the companies whenever they organising seminars or course or whatever........

Wish me luck ( in fact a whole lot of it.... !! ) in this matter. If this was our third or fourth meeting, I've had their ears burned with my "piece of mind" !!!!!! LOL....

PTA

PTA is abbreviation of Parents Teachers Association. Fondly known in Malaysia as PIBG - Persatuan IbuBapa Dan Guru. If you are a homemaker, you should... SHOULD join it.. !!! Some people thought that being a PTA member is a nuisance. Meeting...., meeting..., meeting...., asking money from the parents and bla... bla... bla.....

Seriously, PTA is a body that carry so much weight. It helps the school in search or to raise funds. The portion what Kementerian gave is not enough to generate the school project. The Government portion of money is merely for the "PNP" - Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran ( is another abbreviation... hehehe...) meaning it is for the teaching materials and stuff for the students to understand the subjects.

PTA also can make an impact in terms of knowing our children's attitude, moral behaviour and academic achievements through the teachers. We can also ensure that our children can get the maximum benefits from the education programme at school. Children must also be encouraged to make use of the school facilities to help them in the school activities or curriculum and to make compulsory a clean and healthy school environment

As parents of children in the school, we must also promote the good relationship between parents and teachers by exchanging ideas and information about education in general. The PIBG society is also for the purpose of having forum and services for the improvement of our students, thus making the studying environment more conducive. PTA's most important purpose is to provide a platform between parents and teachers at school to voice their ideas, encouragement and grievances so as to uphold the school standard at the highest possible level, parallel with the saying, Cemerlang, Gemilang and Terbilang.

As the name applies, PIBG members consist of parents and teachers. In this association both the parents and teachers stand together at the same height. No one is higher than the other. You can have a PhD for that matter or being a corporate leader (or being a Tan Sri etc) and the teacher can be just a Diploma holder but in a PIBG we are all equals. Being equals means that we have equal voice. Being equal means that we don’t look down on others or expecting people to look up upon you. It is a place where we can joke, lough and make fun without prejudice.Being equals means that we can sit down and make rational decision for the benefit and to meet the PIBG objectives.

In many PIBG that I have seen, there are several malady that I see. On paper, the committee consist of parents and teacher. In reality the organization is run by the school i.e. the HM’s. The YDP comes and do opening ceremonies. The YDP and the treasurer just sign away monies as requested by the school. The exco rarely meets and when they do meet, it is just a matter of formality. During meeting it always a one way communication between the school head and the rest of the committee and the role of the YDP is limited to being the chairperson of that meeting. This is a serious illnesses. It is cancerous and dangerous. This is wrong. As in line with the PIBG constitution the children is our focus. The PIBG role is so clearly define by its constitution. It’s function is not to run the school or to maintain the school infrastructure. As parents and teachers we all must understand that the PIBG is a self regulatory organization that is independent of the school. The PIBG independence is the main thrust. If there is a clear instructions that PIBG cannot interfere with the school administrations, similarly the Registrar of Schools must come out and document in writing that school head as administrator cannot interfere in the running of the PIBG. The role of the school head is already well defined i.e. as an advisor. Many school head does not realized the scope of being an “advisor”. Being an advisor is different from being the head of the PIBG. The YDP and the committee consults and seek advice from the school head on issues related to regulations and meeting student needs. He does not report to the school head nor does he must toe what the school head says. They must play their respective role and find a win win situation that benefits the children. Both the parent and teachers must play a greater role in the PIBG. Parents and teacher must have the freedom to vote according to the people that they think can run the organization. In many case we see that the teachers has been instructed by the school head that they should vote according to instruction of the school head. The person that is elected are usually a Dato or Datin or a YB or a person that the HM’s is comfortable with. As I had mention in the initial part of this write-up, ranks, titles and your relationship and position with VIP’s are not important. Members (parents and teachers) must vote according to their free will and they must vote the people who can run the organization and not the person that warms up the chair. People who are elected must show that they are there not for their own children but for all the children or for the needs of special privileges. The formed committee must work. In this aspect, we mean that it must run programs as guided by the constitution. Before running any program it is good that the input from the school is obtained. Nothing in the law says that the PIBG cannot run any programs that is not approved by the school. Approval of the school in not necessary but is a matter of courtesy. PIBG can also run program outside the school for children. The basic is, they can do anything under the sun that is inline with their PIBG constitution and not going against the various Education regulation. To run any organization, be it PIBG or others, the committee members must understand the their constitution, their powers and their roles. A successful committee must work together as a team. It is indeed a very sad state of affair when we found that most PIBG are divided. This happen because certain Exco’s members wants to be in the good books of the school head and hoping to get special privileges. Usually there will be two teams, one that is aligned to the school head and the other that is against. A mature and respectable school head must understand its role of impartiality. He must not take side in the committee. He must work with the elected team, whoever they may be. He/She must not divide and rule. For the best interest of the PIBG, the school head must not get involved in the politicking of the PIBG. The members themselves need to shoulder some blame. Parents themselves don’t understand what PIBG stands for. It does not understand the purpose and role of the committee. They should vote the working team and not the team that is being promoted by the school head who shows bias. If your school head is aligned to certain group and and do not behave professionally during meetings then you can advice him or her. If advice doesn’t work than you vote the opposing team during the AGM. That will put the school head in a proper place. Effective financial management is important to any successful organization. Never spent beyond the capabilities of the organization. In an NGO like PIBG, there is no need to collect money more than what you can spend. Some PIBG is so proud that they manage to collect hundreds of thousand and keep their money in FD’s. This should not be the case. With proper planning, members don’t have to be burden and benefits is to be extended to the children. PIBG monies must be spend for the benefit of the children. Recently I had the opportunity to visit a primary school, where the the PIBG is not run by a committee but solely by the YDP. The PIBG built shaded car parks for teachers. Why? This is not inline with the PIBG activities. The same school also built a up market cyber cafe corner with high end finish (almost to the standard of star bucks) and wireless environment. For what? The children don’t carry notebook to school. Who uses this wireless environment? Out of 1000 students how many of them actually uses them. In the end of it became a showcase school as an example to foreign visitors. Beautiful infrastructure is indeed a welcome site and if you unlimited resources, you can built a replica of KLCC in the school compound using high technology materials. But we need to ask simple basic questions - is it worthwhile and beneficial for the children as listed in the PIBG constitution. What kind of direct impact does it have on the children. What is the cost benefit ratio. The finance of the PIBG belongs to the PIBG and not to the school. The school cannot simply decide on how the money is going to be spent. The PIBG committee must decide. The YDP must play his role. He or she must understand the rules and regulations and lead his team. Many PIBG has very weak financial management system in place. There is no documented procedure for application, approval, spending authorities and limits and no proper documented paper trail. Audit is also equally very weak. This creates a lot of problem for a lot of people. It may create transparency issue. Many PIBG committee do not wants to share what was discussed during meetings with its members. They feel, the members do not have rights to the minutes of meeting. This is wrong, what ever the committee decides it must be be made known to all members. There is no need to hide information from members. After all we are all equals. My observation also shown that the Ministry or the Education Department needs to conduct program about PIBG to school heads and the school PIBG committee. The objective of PIBG needs to be realigned to meet the challenge of the 21st century. The PIBG objectives must be expanded to include maintaining members database and promoting parents involvements in the organization. At the moment, officially resources cannot be used for this purpose. Training must be given to office bearers. The government needs to play its role, maybe by providing matching grants for every dollar the PIBG collect and spent for the children. The independence of the PIBG is important to ensure that the integrity of the organization is protected

A very good reading taken from drrafick - you are so right from the begining... salute you !!
http://rights2write.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/successful-pibg-secret-recipe/

http://rights2write.wordpress.com/2008/01/13/pibg-the-needs-and-the-confusion/

At Last.......

Pheewwwww........ at last, I have decided to make a blog to post my everyday life journal about being a homemaker. First thing first, what is a homemaker ??


Homemaker: Advises family in private home in dealing with problems, for example nutrition, cleanliness, and household utilities: Advises and assists family members in planning nutritious meals, purchasing and preparing foods, and utilizing commodities from surplus food programs. Assists head of household in training and disciplining children, assigns and schedules housekeeping duties to children according to their capabilities, and encourages parents to take interest in children’s schoolwork and assist them in establishing good study habits. Explains fundamental hygiene principles and renders bedside care to individuals who are ill, and trains other family members to provide required care.
from http://www.job-descriptions.org/homemaker.html

So..., what do you think ?? It is not an easy task...., I tell you.... !! Just imagine our mothers gave us their undivided time, attention, loves and be there for us whenever we need them..... Sometimes ..., NO !! Not sometimes, in fact all the time they don't care about themselves and even put us her top priority ....... Can we do that to our children ?? Yessss.. of course.... some might says... But to prove it......., is another sad story....