CHAPTER 5: A Brief Story of the New School

I enrolled in a school located in the heart of Johor Bahru, which, at that time, was modestly renowned. Today, it stands as a beacon of educational excellence, known not only in Johor but throughout Malaysia. Nearly seventy percent of the Asrama male students attended this esteemed school.

The school had a unique structure for Form 1 students. As a result, Asrama students were divided into two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I was part of the afternoon session, where all students were placed in a single class. Interestingly, despite the school's coeducational policy, our class consisted only of male students.

In the first semester, our designated classroom was not yet available, so we were distributed among existing classes. Among the fifteen Asrama students in our afternoon session, five of us were placed in three different classes: A, C, and D. I found myself in class C.

This mix of students from various classes exposed us to a diverse range of behaviours and experiences, expanding our social horizons beyond our usual group. In this diverse class, I witnessed a wide range of behaviours.

One unfortunate incident involved a female classmate who was caught playing truant with her boyfriend in Hutan Bandar, engaging in activities that, at that young age, were incomprehensible to my growing understanding.

It was only in the second semester that we finally had our own classroom, and that's when our story truly began to unfold. Half of our class consisted of non-Malay students, while almost all Malay students were Asrama students. Only a few, about three or four Malay classmates, were permanent residents of Johor Bahru.

In contrast to the morning session, which had the exclusive Rancangan Khas class for Malay students of exceptional promise, our session was a mix of students from diverse racial backgrounds. While this made our class unique, it wasn't the source of any significant issues. Thankfully, adolescence had yet to fully assert its influence over us at that point!

During my Form 1 year, I wasn't a top academic performer, but I took pride in being among the top ten students in our class. What pleased me even more was that half of the esteemed top ten were Malay Asrama students, with two of them ranking in the top five (although not me). It was a small source of pride to show our peers that we, the Asrama students, were not underachievers when it came to academics!