KAK LISA IS A TRUE TEACHER

Kak Lisa Is What I Call A True Teacher

6 years ago. January 25, 2014.

A young woman entered Teacher Lisa’s class. Quickly she said, “Are you Lisa? Sure you are Lisa!” The young woman seemed quite furious by looking at her face and complexion. 

“Ye Puan, saya Lisa.” Answered teacher Lisa.

Teacher Lisa is an experienced teacher as she has been teaching for almost a decade. A loving and caring teacher she is. But, nowadays people seems to have their own definition of everything including the terminology caring and loving. 

“So you are the ugly Teacher Lisa! I have heard a lot of bad stuffs from my neighbour about you.” It has only been several weeks but I cannot believe what have you taught my son.” The woman continues scolding my dear friend Teacher Lisa. 

Teacher Lisa taught the woman’s son English at SK Tikar Awan. Teacher Lisa is a graduate of IPGM. I respect Teacher Lisa for her dedication that she showed towards profession and our school. Despite being a single mother, she always lived to her fullest.

“Teacher, do you realized how old my child is? He is only seven years old. What makes you think that you can give homework to a child of his age. Oh, I forgot. You gave homework to the whole class right? I cannot believe this. My child deserves no homework. He deserves quality time at home. Not with your useless tasks.” This woman was so angry by the fact that Teacher Lisa had given her students some homework during the weekend holiday. 

By now, Teacher Lisa seems a bit worried. She did not want her students to listen the quarrel between her and the young mother. 

“Maam, could we discuss this matter outside the classroom? I am concerned that these innocent children need their space to focus on their reading.” 

“No! They should know what I am about to say.” The young mother still have not cooled down by now. 

“Listen to me, I want you to give my child no homework at all. Homework is a burden for him. 5 hours of school everyday shall be enough for him to get straight As in UPSR. Do you understand me Lisa?” 

“Alright maam. But, could we talk about this later? I am sure we can sort out with a mutual agreement regarding this matter. I am ready to be your help.” Said Teacher Lisa.

“No need of help from your small brain. You could not even teach my child properly. How dare you asking to teach me instead. I need to go. You are lucky that my temper is low today.” The young mother finished her speech and left Teacher Lisa.

The class was quite. Teacher Lisa sat for a while before taking her belongings and left the classroom. This is when I saw her entering the teacher’s room briskly and went to her table. I felt that something was off. Usually, Kak Lisa was not this passive. I asked Puan Rosnah who sat next to my desk “Kenapa Kak Lisa tu?”. Puan Rosnah did not have an answer.

Then, Puan Rosnah and I approached Kak Lisa. We were shocked to see Kak Lisa crying. That was the very first time I saw Kak Lisa loose herself. I know something very bad has happened. 

Meanwhile Puan Rosnah tried to console Kak Lisa, I went to the class where Kak Lisa should be teaching at the moment. When I arrived at the class, the students were very quite too. As far as I knew, 3 Ibnu Khaldun was a very active class. Making them sit quitely for 2 minutes is almost impossible. 

Current day, November 10, 2019.

UPSR results is about to be announced in five minutes. This is a very tense moment. Parents of Year 6 students are all here waiting for the results. Surely, parents want their children to score well so 6 years of school would not be wasted.

The headmaster of our school climbs the stage to announce the results.

“Now, this is the moment that we all had been waiting for. All praise to God, we are blessed with a student that managed to score straight As. Personally, I am very happy. It had been three years since the last time we had a students that managed to accomplish the same results. Aqil, congratulations. Your parents and teachers must be very proud of you.”

I can see from afar that Kak Lisa smiles. Aqil is one of her best student. All of the teachers know this. Despite the incident that happened 6 years ago, Kak Lisa did not stop. In fact, she became a personal tutor for Aqil.  She did this for six years so Aqil can finish his homework at school and still be free at home as what her mother mentioned before. Aqil loves his mentor too. Aqil knows that his teacher did nothing wrong. 

On the other side of the hall, Aqil’s mother is having a conversation with the headmaster. She thanked the headmaster. Of course, Aqil’s mother is the happiest parent in the hall.

“Oh, you should not be thanking me. It is Teacher Lisa that deserves all the credits. She helped your son with his homework almost everyday. Not just for English subject, but other subjects as well. She really wanted to see your son be successful in his education.” Says the headmaster.

Aqil’s mother remains in silence for a while. She never knew that the one teacher that she scolded years ago helped her son all these while. She thought that Teacher Lisa and the other teachers really stopped giving her son any homework. 

Kak Lisa leaves the hall. For her, helping Aqil achieving straight As in UPSR is purely her responsibility and she does not reserve any credits or compliments. Kak Lisa have also forgiven Aqil’s mother a long time ago. Indeed, Kak Lisa is one of the most admirable teacher that I have met in my entire life. 

Kak Lisa is what I call a true teacher.

- Abdullah-