With better communications do we communicate better?

Two things reminded me of my former  boss in the early nineties. He passed away last year (may Allah blessed his soul). One is about working beyond the stipulated hours and the other about speeches in front of a table full of food.

In those days minutes were typewritten on machine like this

On the former, he said, those who work beyond the stipulated hours are poor  managers. I was a green horn at the time and still could not fully grasped the meaning of his words. Those days  working hours were from 8.00am to 4.15pm on weekdays and 8.00am to 12.45pm on Saturdays. Yes, Saturday is a working day in those days, albeit only till noon. We hardly had meetings beyond 4.30pm. Fast forward 20 years, these days, meetings that started at 4.30pm is fast becoming a common practice. I already had two meetings lined up in early February that is going to start at 5.00pm and 5.30pm respectively. Echoing the word of the Prime Minister since becoming the PM, his days are becoming longer and his nights are getting shorter, I am also slowly falling into the pattern. With the working hours normally spent attending numerous meetings, I can only attend to the various in-house letters and memos well past 5pm. That means either I have to bring work home or stay in the office till I finish the jobs, which could go on  well past 7pm. That brings the question, am I a poor manager? Maybe indeed I am.

With better global communication, are we better in communicating?

Maybe in the old days we are better prepared for a meeting since everything has to be done manually. We took extra care to get everything ready beforehand. And we tend to make less errors in communication as it was quite difficult to correct them. With better communication equipment at our disposal these days we become a bit slack and a tad  careless. These days we should be better equipped to communicate at a faster rate and things should be better. But unfortunately it does not.  Wan Ahmad Fayshal Wan Ahmad Kamal wrote in the New Sunday Times today, ” despite having a plethora of information at our disposal, how efficient are we in making use of our cognitive abilities?” He questioned further ” Have we, through this hyper connectivity become better communicator?” I truly believe we are non the wiser despite tremendous amount of info and quick way of getting them. I do not know about you, but for me, I think I have to agree with Wan Ahmad Fayshal, we are still not able to tell the difference between  information and knowledge, knowledge and wisdom.

Well, you may wonder what was the other word of wisdom from my former boss? Well, if you are making a speech, especially if food have been served, it should like a skirt, long enough to cover the essential parts, short enough to make it attractive. There was a second part to his advice , but I won’t report it here as I could be charged as sexist as well as racist. You cannot be too careful in these fast global communication days. Many people have been taken to court over a seemingly innocent remarks

 

English is a strange language (or some people call it idiotic)

With its numerous nuances and exceptions to its basic rules, English is definitely a strange language, making it terribly difficult to master. Today I append a posting that was found in the WordPress (Liana)  that I thought confirmed my haunch all these years that English is build by the arrogant people with scant regard for its own rules. Truly ypical of British nonchalance and arrogance.

   Let’s Face It. English Is a Stupid Language.

 

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There is no egg in the eggplant,
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England,
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted, but if we examine its paradoxes we find that:
Quicksand takes you down slowly,
Boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don’t fing?
If the plural of tooth is teeth,
Shouldn’t the plural of phone booth be phone beeth?
If the teacher taught,
Why hasn’t the preacher praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What the heck does a humanitarian eat?
Why do people recite at a play,
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways?
How can the weather be as hot as hell on one day
And as cold as hell on another?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language where a house can burn up as it burns down,
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers,
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn’t a race at all.)

That is why:
When the stars are out they are visible,
But when the lights are out they are invisible.
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts,
But when I wind up this poem
It ends.

 

The Idiocy of the English Language

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Elana

 

The Idiocy of the English Language

If you are at all acquainted with the English language, you may have noticed some common sayings and words in there that are really silly, once you come to think of it. For example, why is it called a boxing ring when it is actually a square? Why is the load of the ship referred to as cargo, but when a truck carries a load on land, that is referred to as shipping? Actors recite a play for an audience, but then they play at a recital. See? It doesn’t make sense! But that is English, unfortunately. That is also one of the reasons why English is such a hard language to speak fluently – incorporating all its nuances. Ask me – I’ve been there. There are so many things you simply have to know.

If you want to read more about the silliness of English, there is this poem. It is unfortunately not the original one that inspired this post – that one was printed in my English handbook and I can’t find it – but most of the cartoons of this post are also illustrations from it.

 

Now, without further ado (cliché!), let’s have a giggle!

*

 

You would not believe how many “desert peaches” I’ve seen at the grocer. I always wonder if they are all sandy and dry. And I’ve also had several people ask me if I would live in a dessert. “No, I don’t think so. It would probably be very sticky. And sickly.” Then they look at me as if I’ve gone mad.

 

What the hell just happened there? Please excuse the language: I just felt that was the only suitable comment to use.

 

Yes. And if fire fighters fight fires, what then do freedom fighters fight?

 

Why do we drive on parkways…

… and park on driveways?

 

Oh. Well, I just asked the dictionary, and apparently the word “pineapple” is derived from the Middle English word for “pinecone”. The fruit seems to have reminded whoever named it of a pinecone. If you say so. I can’t say I really see the resemblance. Except maybe in the shape.

 

So sometimes the connections do make sense. A lot of the time they do not, however. But no-one can deny that English is a creative language!

 

I hope you all have a great week!

Have we plunged that low in Maths and Science?

Recently I chanced upon a report on Malaysia’s standing in the world in terms reading, Maths and science. The PISA (Programme for International Students Assessment) reports on OECD’s (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries young people ability to use their knowledge and skills in real lives.

PISA is an international comparative survey of 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.  It measures how well young adults have acquired the knowledge and skills that are required to function as successful members of society.  This is the first time Malaysia joined the programme to gauge our standing in the educational world specifically in reading, Maths and Science.

Among the OECD countries the top performers in reading literacy are Finland (536 points) and Korea (539) while Shanghai, China (556) is the top performer in non OECD countries.  Reading literacy encompasses the range of situations in which people read, the different ways written texts are presented, and the variety of ways that readers approach and use texts, from the functional and finite, such as finding a particular piece of practical information, to the deep and far-reaching, such as understanding other ways of doing, thinking and being. The lowest score in OECD is Mexico (425) while Khrgyztan is the lowest in non OECD with a score of 314. The mean score is 494. Where did Malaysia stand in the reading literacy scale? Read the summary of reports about Malaysia here:

• Students in Malaysia attained an average score on the PISA reading literacy scale that was below the average attained in all OECD countries and equivalent to the average scores estimated for Brazil, Colombia, Miranda-Venezuela, Montenegro, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago.  In Malaysia, 56% of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline needed to participate effectively and productively in life. This compares to 81% in the OECD countries, on average.
• Students in Malaysia attained an average score on the mathematical literacy scale below the average attained in all OECD countries. In Malaysia, 41% of students are proficient in mathematics at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the kind of skills that enable them to use mathematics in ways that are considered fundamental for their future development.  In Malaysia, there was no statistically significant difference in the performance of boys and girls in mathematical literacy.
• Malaysian students were estimated to have an average score on the scientific literacy scale that was significantly higher than that estimated for the lowest scoring OECD country, Mexico.
• In Malaysia, 57% of students are proficient in science at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the science competencies that will enable them to participate actively in life situations related to science and technology. This compares to 82% in the OECD countries, on average.
• In Malaysia, there was a statistically significant gender difference in scientific literacy, favouring girls.

The results is quite damning for a country aspiring to be a fully developed nation by 2020. And the students surveyed were students of the PPSMI generation. As far as this report is concerned, we are on par with countries like Indonesia, Montenegro, Jordan or Trinidad Tobago. We are even lower than Thailand and way below our kiasu neighbour. If Vietnam and Brunei joined the fray, I am worried that we may fall below them as well.

The report only confirmed what we have feared to be happening to our students. Many blamed the results on our inexperience in the PISA arena as well as our overly emphasis on examination. Having looked the overall result we can see that the latter excuse is not quite valid. Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong are countries that famously exam oriented. Reports of students committing suicides as a results depression due to exam pressures are not uncommon in these countries. So why did their students did very well in PISA while ours didn’t? I had a peek at some samples of the PISA questions and it came clear why our students failed miserably. PISA questions are mostly high level, text heavy, and graphical where as our exam questions are mainly low level recall and comprehension questions. Unless and until we change the  content and structure of our exam questions so that more questions on high level thinking skills are asked, we would continue to be a nation of  producing huge number of A+ but unthinking students. Our teachers are so good at producing large number of A+ students at every public exam, one sometime wonder if these A+ are a true reflection of the students overall creative and critical thinking capabilities. We cannot blame the curriculum either because the notion of critical and creative thinking skills have been a major aspect integrated in to the schools syllabi since the KBSR and KBSM days. If the results of the public exam is the true reflections of their academic capabilities then why do we fared so badly in PISA? The mind boggles.

Pessimist view of the new year.

I am not much of an optimist. Every new year I hardly hope for anything new or dramatic to happen in my life. People may not like it, but I cannot help feeling, 2012 would be business as usual. Despite the promise of 1BestariNet would make internet accessibility in schools a breeze, personally I am still not convinced. I have had enough experience of putting too much hope into a project and going round the country telling people of how wonderful it will be only for it to fall flat and to have the dirt splattered on my already battered face. The reason for its failure is beyond our control, we did our darndest and damnest to make it happen, but then due to things that were far beyond our grasps, the project failed to deliver on its promises and we were left holding the sick monkey on our lap ( to borrow the term used by my former DG).

To be honest, I am quite petrified of the prospects of things in 2012. Petrify with the facts that, now we may not have the excuse of poor accessibility for not using the technology in teaching and learning. Petrify with the facts that users may not like what we have done so far. Petrify with the fact that people would point out all those mistakes that we have done. Petrify with the prospect that  users would vilify us for providing not so high standard materials. Petrify with the prospect of schools blaming the ageing equipment for not able to use the technology. I am happy with their current ignorance. Happy and comfortable with their limited use. Ignorance is a bliss. Anxiety also heighten the sense of fear. How are we going to streamline all those requirements. How are we going to meet all those next gen e-content, cyber school, customer satisfaction, and 80% learning objects requirement. Can we meet our April target? Can we match the KPI? Do we have the capacity to do it? Am I going to be drowned in meetings again? Would I be distracted from our mission?

Wow, with all those burning questions, I can only gather my team and plan and hope for the divine intervention that everything would be OK. I am a pessimist and a worrier ( not a warrior mind you). Happy new year everybody.

Double decker bus is unsafe for long distance?

The Simpang Pulai - Cameron Highland tragedy claimed 27 lives

With this kind of driver, it is not safe even in short distances

The news recently reported that, The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety (MIROS) stated that the double decker bus is not safe for long distance travelling and also for travelling on hilly and winding roads. This could be the result of the finding of the tragedy near Simpang Pulai last year where a double decker bus carrying tourists from Thailand crashed and 27 people died. I am not sure what sort of research MIROS have done to come to that conclusion or the news agency is not fully reporting the quote from MIROS. The double decker bus have been used all over the world for decades either for long distance travelling or as intra city and rural buses. I used to take the Lincolnshire double decker bus from Nottingham to Loghborough in the 80s. The route pass through the rural villages and winding roads as well as hilly areas. I used to sit on the top deck and normally right in the front row on top of the driver. It always amazed me how these buses can go through the tight corners and the hilly areas. Of course they traveled at a speed way below the permissible limit and the drivers were fully trained, highly responsible and truly understand the need for care and courteousness in driving that sort of buses. The road surface were also well maintained with adequate signages.

With modern technology the safety features of these buses have improved tremndously over the years.

Double decker buses have to pass various safety tests

KL Hop on hop off bus service

 

Statistics did not show preference for double dcker bus to accidents. From my readings, road safety is not merely about banning double decker buses in long distance travel but more about other things such as the drivers experience, skills, safety features on the bus, road condition, condition of the buses and enforcement from the authorities. Yamin Vong said road accidents are rarely accidents but preventable events or at least mishaps that can be minimised if everybody plays his/her part.

In this country most double decker bus accidents were brought about by reckless drivers, poorly maintained buses, terrible road conditions and attitudes of other drivers on the roads. Add poor and selective enforcement to that concoction you really have a hell of a recipe for disasters. Distance traveled by the double decker buses has very little to do with it. For the Simpang Pulai tragedy, it was reported that the buses was not properly built as a fully fledged double decker bus – hence its safety was compromised. Mind you the road to Genting Highland is treacherous even for normal cars let alone for the highly gravity sensitive double decker buses.

So now the Transport Ministry will come out with a directive to ban double decker buses? What would be the reaction of the already ailing express and stage bus industry? Or shall we go back to the BMW (Bas mini wilayah) days. Remember those pink delights with the famous battle cries “masuk dalam lagi bang!, masuk dalam lagi! ” “Oi, lajulah sikit orang nak makan pun tak boleh ke!”

the notoriously efficient bas mini

stop and pick and drop wherever and whenever u like

 

When the mind is playing tricks on you.

Early yesterday morning I told my son that we are going to Diamond Bay (Teluk Intan folks!) today for my officer’s wedding reception and I planned to stop by in Sabak Bernam to visit my elder brother. It is a long weekend we could do with a bit of a break.

Later, at around quarter to four in the afternoon I received a call from the bride’s father. I confidently told him, I’ll be going tomorrow. I was a wee bit puzzled when he passed to phone to the groom and to my astonishment, he asked why weren’t I there yet, as it was almost four and almost everybody from the office was already there. Of course I was bewildered. I was so confident that the ceremony is today, 25th December, Christmas day. I could not be wrong, I had fixed it in my memory and virtually wrote it down. Of course I was wrong and I had to apologise profusely to the groom for the mistake. I double checked with the invitation card. There it was written in bold green letters, Saturday 24th December 2011. How I wish it was not that late, I could have easily push the old banger to reach Teluk Intan within a couple of hours and still make it to the ceremony.

Later I sat down and try to digest the situation. How could I get it wrong? I promised him that I would come. I promised his father in law that I would come. Indeed I intended to go, but then I got the date wrong. Events leading to the weekend probably tarred my memory. On Thursday I was busy with the inland revenue and the getting the wifey’s car serviced. I was in Ampang late Friday afternoon when I received a desperate distress call from the wife. The Serena’s alarm is blaring for no apparent reason. It won’t stop even after the engine was switched off and the ignition key pulled out. She was in the middle of MRRII, near Taman melati heading south  on late Friday afternoon and it was drizzling. Imagine trying to get to Taman Melati at 7.00pm on Friday , on the eve of a long weekend, from Ampang via MRRII on Friday evening. In my rush to get there, I missed the Gombak -Karak  turn off junction and had to take the Greenwood, Sg. Pusu, Gombak,to back to MMRII via UIA circle . It took me half an hour.  The Serena’s alarm is still blaring, I just put on the hazard lights and drove the thing back home amidst the annoyed and curious traffic seeing this crazy driver blaring his horn non stop along the way. When I got home, practically the whole community of Jalan Wangsa Siaga 1 came out to see what was going on upon hearing the piercing sound of the car’s horn. It was too dark for me to look for the cable that link the horn to the battery, so I simply had to yank out the battery connection to stop the din the car was making.  In the chaos I forgot to double check the date of the wedding invitation (which I normally do). Since it was already registered in my mind the  ceremony is going to be on Christmas Day, I slept with that wrong date firmly etched. So Ustaz Mad, I am so sorry. Congratulations. May Allah bless both of you and grace you with all the happiness in this world and the hereafter.

Come to think of it, I better check the date for my niece’s wedding, I am sure it is on the 31st.  On the other hand…

Durian kurang manis

The durian season is here again and despite being a son of durian orchard owner, I never got tired of eating those thorny, foul smelling king of fruits. Never mind mat salleh said it  smells like stinking drain. But when diabetic has a  hold on you, durian is definitely bad news.

durian and its glorious smell

A few nights ago we stopped by at one of those roadside stalls selling durians.  And from my experience helping my dad selling durian to the middlemen, I have never seen a durian that cost RM30 per piece, but then that night I have to. It was one of those cloned species.

Late yesterday, I was in Port Dickson for an emergency meeting and the organiser took a lot of trouble arranging for a durian feast. Since I was diagnosed a diabetic a few years back, I have to cut down on my sugar intake. I have learnt to love teh O kosong, kopi O kosong, teh C kosong and all those thing kosong. I have also cut down on my rice intake, but that is really quite difficult when Malaysian diet normally does not include salad and vegetable to supplement my rice reduction. I have no problem when I am eating on my own where I can devise my own selection, but then most of the time I have to eat in the preset environment, especially during meetings, seminars and packages. I have also familiarised my family with brown rice. Now everyone in the house have taken to like brown rice.

Back to the durian feast, one of my colleague brought me a peice of durian and told me it is “durian kurang manis” much like teh tarik kurang manis. Huh… durian kurang manis?…. He was joking of course to entice me into joining the durian eating  orgy.  There no such thing as “durian kurang manis” –  diabetics eat durians at your own peril!

Durian feast - if you are diabetic, you eat at your own peril.

Jalan Doraisamy revisited

Jalan Doraisamy - come after 5pm

The mere mention of Jalan Doraisamy, a little backlane conjoining Jalan Dang Wangi an the Heritage Row in Kuala Lumpur conjures up an image of colourful clubs and of course – soups.
I have not been to this part of the world for quite a while now, especailly at night. Normally, when my brother or my brother in law come to town, inevitably they would suggest that we visit Jalan Doraisamy for our dinner. Actually there is no particular restaurant, just a few tables along the footpath and the soup come from the proprietor in the back lane of Jalan Doraisamy. If you think McD or KFC are fast food, I am sure you would think again after your Jalan Doraisamy’s experience. The service is lightning quick. The waiters would rattle off myriads of soups and as soon as you make your choice, steaming bowls of thick oily and aromatic broth would arrive. I cannot describe the taste. It is out of this world, with loads of calories. Unless you are health concious, this is the place to be.

Soup kambing, sup daging, soup international, soup ayam, soup torpedo,.... you name it

Last night, in the drizzle we went to Jalan Doraisamy for dinner. It is our family bonding time. With yours truly extremely busy in the weekdays and nights, weekend nights are the time I can gather the family to catch up with things. Not that there is much to catch, but it is the only time I can get to connect with them physically.

 The place was rather quiet and the corner restaurant has become another branch of Syed Bistro and the otak-otak seller wasn’t there, neither was the busker and the blind beggers. But the mountain of nasi lemak packets were still around and the soup were still tasty and the service is still fast.

If you think eating out at the stalls in Jalan Doraisamy is cheap, think again. For eight packets of Nasi lemak, six bowls of soup, two packets of roti benggali, two teh tariks, one barley panas, one nescafe tarik, one teh o halia and one teh c kosong, set me back sixty ringgit! I think Jalan Doraisamy is fast becoming a playground for the rich who prefer street ambience, just like NZ Centre in Wangsa Maju. Never let the laid back and simple ambience fool you. The cost maybe as steep as McD and KFC.

Renewable energy: where are we?

TNB is under extreme pressure with subsidised gas shortage

A few days ago Business FM, a private radio station ran a series on renewable energy which renewed my flagging interest on this topic. I wrote a small dissertation on solar energyway back in the early 80′s. Even up to this day I am still baffled on the reason why Malaysia has not taken much effort to utilise the energy from the sun. Being a tropical country, the sun is abundant throughout the year and it is free. In fact our Southern neighbour had taken  a firm action to be a leading nation on solar energy research.  I know the incentive may not be that great since our fossil energy is heavily subsidised by the Government. But then, our gas supply can only last for another 30 years or so and oil  can only last for another 19 years. We should be ready for the eventuality of us being a net importer of oil.

The lady from SEDAR (sustainable energy development authority) told us the Government have started planning for feed in tariffs since seven years ago. Feed in tariff as I understood it is a mechanism where energy can be fed back into the national grid by generators of electricity and the supplier can be compensated according the wattage fed into the grid. Plans are afoot to allow private generators of power supply to feed excess power into the national grid. Home owners can install photo voltaic cells on their roofs and any excess electricity form the PV can be transmitted to the national grid.

Efficiency of power from PV cells are still low and it is still cheaper to use fossil fuel for electricity

 The same can be said for organisations which use biomass or garbage to generate electricity for their own consumption can now contribute any excess power to the TNB via the national grid. The days of TNB monopoly on electricity is nearing the end. I remember in the early days of our nation, they were a few companies involved along the electricity supply chain. Perak hydro and Kinta Electricity Distibution (KED) were such companies. But these days everything is under the jurisdiction of TNB (except a few indpendent power producers, IPPs, which also used fossil fuels to generate elctricity and TNB must buy power from them).

TNB relies heavily on the fossil fuel for its generators and when Petronas recently cut down on supply of subsidised gas due to maintenance work and the price coal skyrocketed, TNB suffered heavily. It was reported that TNB is asking for a compensation to the tune of RM3 billion from Petronas as a result of shortage of gas. I wonder how long TNB should rely on fossil fuel to power their generators. Hopefully with the feed in tariffs come into force, 30% of the elctricity would come from feed in supply.

More importantly, SEDAR said, consumers must learn to be prudent in using power. The power game should not only concentrate on the suppliers but consumers also play a crucial part. SEDAR estimated that consumers can save as much as 30% of the national energy costs. Maybe Malaysia should spend a lot more on research on solar energy to make it more efficient. In terms of supply, we can never be short of sunshine. In Korea, I saw many car parks use PVs on the roofs to light up the areas.  I believe our Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) can do a lot more than their Singapore’s counterpart. Then again, as long as fuel being subsidised by the Government, both the suppliers and consumers had little incentives to conserve and innovate on energy. Economically, it is still  a lot cheaper to use fossil fuel than its alternatives. But then for how long can we sustain this?

NextGen e-content

For the past few months we were made to run like a headless chicken trying to to come to terms to the rapid pace of transformation at the MoE. Maybe the public is still thinking that we are simply a big juggernaut moving at a snail’s pace. Under the the GTP and the NETP, MoE  being transformed very quickly. Not content with the MBMMBI, we are also dealing with the KSSR and PBS. Then come the 1BestariNet.  To the uninitiated, 1BestariNet is the end to end solution to the issue of internet connectivity to schools. It is going to be implemented in 2012. It has been reported that by May 2012, half of the 10,000 schools in this country would be connected to this high speed internet.  Apart from providing internet connectivity to the nook and cranny of the schools, it also provides  a virtual learning environment for teaching and learning as well looking after the internet hosting and security issue.

The Government would soon decide on the solution provider that would be tasked with providing the all important solution to the internet connectivity to the schools. On our part we have to move up with times. Teaching and learning has to be transformed to cater for the Gen-Y and the millennium kids. We were tasked to provide teaching and learning contents that not only suitable for the new generation of learners but also must be able to exploit the capabilities of the 1BestariNet to the fullest.

In keeping with times, the new digital  teaching and learning materials (TLM) is aptly called NextGen e-content. Do not be put off by the name. It is a bit of a mouthful. It is not really new, we are actually rejigging the processes of our earlier materials which we formally called e-bahan and e-content. You know these days, anything digital tend to have the prefix “e” or “i”. Do not ask me why. I reckon it is fashionable to do so or simply plain herd mentality. I would be happy to simply call them digital teaching and learning supporting materials. But then again it would too plain and we would have problems to identify our products with the myriad of those already available in the market and in the internet. So with the help of the internet and our ever helpful long time partner, the MultiMedia Development Corporation (MDeC) we came out with the name “NextGen e-content” to identify our teaching and learning products. For the benefit of the readers, I append the power point that was used to present the Next Gen e-content to a group of teachers recently.

111121 nxt gen econtent

Another interesting point to note is that we are trying very hard to enable our teachers be generate their own TLM. It would be foolish in these days and times to rely solely on materials provided by the Government as they are literally billions of materials available in the internet. After all, only the teachers know the best materials that suit the capabilities of their students. How could a central body provides materials that would suit the users in Kuala Lumpur, Pengkalan Hulu, Wakaf Che Yeh, Nanga Bangkit, Tenom, Kuala Sedili or anywhere at the same time. They are bound to be differences. We are hoping teachers would be bold, creative and diligent enough to use the materials provided by the central agency to at least modify them or create a totally new materials. I must acknowledge that teachers have been doing these all the time all across the country. But we need more sharing of these resources. So we are establishing a platform for the community of practice (CoP) to gather physically or more likely electronically. The community I hope is not limited to teachers but include developers, parents and students as well.

These are a very exciting times indeed, especially with 1BestariNet coming on board in January to replace the much maligned SchoolNet. I just hope this 1BestariNet programme would not be falling into the trap of the Smart Schools pitfalls.