Kaung Thant a Garden on a Far-Flung Peak

The pots could be bought from Kalaymyo. But how could these pots be brought back to the village without being broken? The expenses would be huge. The cost of the pot was also high. I didn't know what to do. After the meeting, I kept on thinking, thinking, and thinking the whole day. Many possible alternatives came to my mind but still no satisfactory solution. After office hours, at home the problem occupied my thoughts and I could not get rid of it. The nearest pipe line to the school was near my house. Even l myself got only one big bucket fuJI of water per day. How could I get enough water for four toilets? But the school was situated on the mountain and it is impossible to carry water through the pipe from somewhere lower to a higher place. I analyzed myself was I just daydreaming for someth ing impossible? Should I report to the higher level administrator that it was really impossible to build a W.C. in a place where water was scarce? The pipe was not the only means to get water. Were there any other ways? Then I recalled the time when playing a game of draughts with U Kam Khan Lian. It was good to play a game 139

of draughts against him as we both had a similar skill level. We struggled to beat one another. One day while we were playing, my situation was in a very favourable position to win. I could manage his attack. I believed and expected that I would surely to beat him. \"Oh, this time you 're going to lose. Whoever can rescue you? A pitiful draughts\" I was teasing him. At that moment he made a move which I had never expected and my attack collapsed. With his lovely Chin accent he said 'Sayagyi, there are a variety ways\". Our match ended with a draw. I got an idea while I was thinking of his word, \"variety\". \"The water pipe is not the only means to carry water\". Water pots are not the only containers to keep water. That thought made me see the light at the end of the tunnel. So the next day at the assembly I made an announcement. \"To use in the four toilets, anybody can bring four water pots. One dried gourd would be offered 50 marks for your respective team. Whoever carried 50 marks would go to his or her team\". \"The water should be filled every day. Teams would take turns to fill water. The team on duty for the day not only needs to fill water but needs to clean the toilets. The head master will check it. If there's water and it's clean, another 50 marks would be added to the team. If no water or not clean enough, no marks and the next day that team would be recorded as undutiful team.\" When they heard my words, they made murmuring sounds. Many dried gourds were brought to school in order for their 140

team to get marks. Whenever somebody carried a big dried gourd, I gave 50 marks. If it was a properly cut upper section of the gourd, it would become like a pot. Team members of the team on duty carried water with lunch boxes that had been used by the Japanese army during WWII. In such a way the toilets built within one day were filled up with water pots. The small cup made from a small dried gourd could be seen in these toilets. The adults in the village were surprised with the children's ability. No matter how difficult, with powerful determination, one can overcome any hindrances. If there is will, there is a way. That was a great lesson for life gained from the Chin hilly region. 141

<< Those who did not realize the value of the companion might have arguments or even fight or not get along well with relatives andfriends close to them. Sometimes, an argument may be based upon bickering over trivial matters.>> 142

CHAPTER22 SCHOOL SPORT My students d id not know the reason for having a long holiday during October. In fact, it is the celebration for the end of Buddhist Lent. But they had no sentimental feeling. They were happy because they got a long holiday. For them it was a happy holiday season but for me I felt lonely spending my time alone in an old house. As I had nothing to do, I reread some old books. Then I wrote nobles one after another. That was all I could do. Although I' d like to go back to Hmawbi where my family lived, the holidays were not long enough for me and the expenses were high. So it was better staying here. I had to stay in the old house without any companion. The teacher who used to play a game of draughts also went back to Tedim where his family lived. All the rest also went back home. Only then did I realize the true value of a companion. We should try to persuade our companion to stay with us as much as possible. Those who did not realize the value of the companion might have arguments or even fight or not get along we ll with relatives and friends close to them. Sometimes an argument may be based upon bickering over windfalls. 143

What a nincompoop somebody is if he does not know the value of a companion! As I had to live alone without anyone else, I knew the genuine value of having a companion. Fate did not help me have a close friend. I tried to be happy spending time with my students. After staying with them closely I wanted them to be happy during the school hours. I wished them to gain knowledge through the co-curriculum activities. For their mental and physical development, I should give them chances to take part in sports competitions. I allowed them to play table tennis using a long table although it was not a table-tennis table. On the southern part of the school compound, a volleyball court was built and I let them practice there. They could also play football in the football ground of the school. The girls could play traditional game of-lttoak-see-toe ( a kind ofMyanmar traditional game) in the space between the school buildings. For the primary level children, they happily played in the Mom Noe playground on the see-saw or slide. Some could even play in the garden. As soon as they got to school, they played with their friends, running here and there. Seeing them I myself started feeling happy. 144

I started my routine inspection around the school and found some students on their duty of cleaning thei r classes and some running around making no ises. At first I wanted to order them not to play because of the noise. But later I changed my mind. Let it be. Let them play and be happy. It was not yet the study hour. The weather was so cold and they could not sit still, it was impossible to do so. Let them keep t~emselves warm by happily playing. These noises were not being made from a car repair garage. The noise came from happy playing. It should be understood and accepted. I was the one who had the duty and responsibility to make the students happy, as a gardener of a garden of humans. With that thought I gazed through the window. I did not notice P.E. teacher, U Pau Khan Khup was next to me. His \"ahem\" caught my attention. \"Oh, Teacher Pau, anything?\" I asked. \"Well I wonder if there would be a school sports day, sayagy i?\" he asked me with vague expectation. \"Yes, there will be .It 's a must\" 145

\"How can we afford the prizes?\" he asked because he knew that there were no school funds. \"It will be teacher Pau. Please tell them the prizes would be given on the annual Award Giving Ceremony\" \"Yes, sayagyi\" \" Well which sort of sporting events do you have in your mind? \"Competitions among the four houses. Soccer matches, volleyball matches and \"htoke-see-toe\" for the girls\" \"What about primary level? They can't play football and volleyball\" \"Track and field events for them\" \"Oh, nice. So, when?\" \"It's up to you, Sayagyi\" \"All right. Shall we start next week? I'll call a meeting this afternoon to assign the duty.\" That afternoon I conducted a meeting. Sport matters were discussed. I was the one who led the discussion. All the teachers looked at me in surprise when I said there would be an opening ceremony. As they did not know what they had to do, they had curious facial expressions. 146

\"All the teachers and students have to gather under the flags of their respective house. Team leader teacher and student have to lead the team. On the stage, the head master will take his place\". \"All four teams enter the pitch and pay respect to the head master. Pay respect means just lower down your team flag slightly and the leaders have to look at the stage and keep walking.\" \"What about the team members?\" one of the teachers asked. \"Well, after the command, Salute, all team members have to look at the stage and after another command, look ahead, just keep walking in normal position.\" I had to give detai l briefing to teacher, Pau, the P.E. teacher. On that day al l teams wou ld march carrying their flags, yellow, green, red and blue. The village Party and council members would be invited. The PT A members would also be invited. The yellow and the Green team wou ld play football as an opening match. Details were discussed in the meeting and the opening ceremony was flawless. The teachers could follow the instructions seriously. They could take any necessary action. But instructions must be clear and concise. They had never seen any sports opening ceremony before. For them every action seemed to be strange. 147

When delivering my speech, I felt sorry for them. In a big city the students' uniforms are new, bright and beautiful with the teams' colours, yellow, green, red, and blue. Here, the students wore their old vests, T-shirts or shirts. Their uniform looked old and faded in colour. \"A sorrowful scene\", I wanted to say. They had no proper jerseys for the football match. They could not afford them and neither could I. But for them just competing was satisfactory. They were challenging each other under the given circumstances. Although I felt pity for them, they were playing happily. They would have a chance to show their skills and ability. They were satisfied with the opportunity created by the teachers for them to show their ability and skills in sports. On that evening almost all the people from the village turned up and cheered the children. They said that they had never seen their sons playing football before. It could be true. It is impossible to play footbaH on a very narrow road built around the mountain with many bends and curves. Once the ball rolled down below, it would be very difficult to pick it up again. If they wanted to play football, they could do so only at school football ground. That's the reason they turned up to see how their sons or nephews or brothers were playing football. The match was really great. Neither side could score. 148

It made me recalling a funny story. Once upon a time there was a wealthy landlord. He would like to offer his hands for the benefit of his village. He had a good heart. One day the youth told him that they wanted to play football and he spent money on that and arranged a match for them. In their village, people had never played football. They thought that it would be fine playing with 11 players on each side. The match started with full uniform. The referee was the headman of a quarter. The village headman of the village and the land lord came to the match with their subordinates. All the lasses of the village were also at the match. All players played actively. But they did not know how to play. A ball was fought for among all 20 players. They kicked each other. Many fell down on one another frequently. The ball had no exit among them. At last the landlord ordered his men to go to both sides and take off the goal posts and then held the posts with their hands. When they saw the ball rolling to their direction, they had to move the post for the ball to enter the net. Only after those people moved the post, the spectators could shout, \"Goal!\" happily. It was quite a similar situation for my students during the first half. In the second half their skills seemed to be better and they could score. Kyansitthar, the Yellow Team, beat Bayintnaung, the Green Team, 2 goals to 1. The spectators went back home with laughing. 149

I would always remember it as a very amusing day for me. Teacher Pau could manage the volley matches and htoks-see - toe matches successfully under his supervision. All these events were part of the unforgettable past for me. 150

<< On the target date, they handed me a shield decorated with tins. I was really delighted looking at the shield. Their artistic skill was .wonder/ul. It definitely looked like a shield ifyou looked at itfrom a little distance.>> 15 1

SPORT CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD After successful matches, I made an announcement that I would give the shield to the winning Team at the Prize Giving Ceremony. Both teachers and students had never heard of such an event before and they were interested. It would be the shield of The Chairman ofthe School Council. Actually, the shields should be offered to the winner of football and volley ball teams. But it was not an easy task. In this village no shield could be bought. Even in Teddim it was not available. l must go down to Yangon to buy shields. But there were no school funds. Anyhow I had already decided to give the winning team the Shield. Something should be created. I asked my subordinate Khen Suan Mung to fetch a volunteer teacher, Khai Mung. When they turned up I asked them whether they had ever seen a shield. They said they had seen it before but did not know how to make it. I asked them whether it would be possible for them to follow instructions. 152

\"If Peepar( sayagyi) gives us instructions, we will make it\" \"All right. Look for two boards of timber. It should be 14 inches by I0 inches. Prepare the wood and paint it in black. It must be a square shape. Join the two boards with the screws in the middle.\" \" Is that all, Saya gyi'?\" asked Khai Mung. \"Well, you have to look for 4 or 5 used tins of condensed milk. Make the tin flat and then cut it to get some 1 inch diameter circles. Make t_!lem concaved shape. Put these circular pieces on the board, three on both sides and one at the top and another one at the bottom. We need total 8 pieces.\" \"What about in the middle?\" Khai Mung asked me again. \"Well, you are right. We'll put a bigger piece of 4 by 3 inches in the middle. Make it flat as well; 8 small pieces and one big piece should be nailed in on the board. Have you got it?\" \"Do you want me to engrave any words on them? \"No, don't. lt would make your task difficult. It's fine so long as you could make a shield similar to my description.\" \"You can look for the boards in the store room. You yourself need to look for used tin. Request the co~operative shop to donate the small nails. If the correct size is not there, go to Teddim and look for it. No school funds and I also used up my salary.\" \"You can make it ready within one week, can't you? 153

I trusted them. They understand my sincere intention and always carried out whatever I asked them to do. In fact I wanted to pay for their labour. But I had nothing. I miss that Laitui school as I carried out one project after another without having enough expenses. Each and every end of the month, I had to save some money for my air ticket to go back home and also needed to buy rice and vegetables for the whole month. After that I had no cash left. There were some students who could not afford to pay ten kyats for the school fund. Only a small sum could be collected and another small sum from the government. As a result, the P T A fund was always in debit. It was impossible to borrow from someone. A few villagers were in good financial position. But there was no one came and donated to the school of their own will. - I did not want to make a request for donations from them. I solved everything as I possibly could in my own way. Khen Suan Mung and Khai Mung had already known my difficulty and didn't ask for funds. They\" usually solved the problem in their own way as well. On the target date, they handed me a shield decorated with tins. I was really delighted looking at the shield. 154

Their artistic skill was wonderful. It definitely looked like a shield if you looked at it from a little distance. But at the close range, anyone could easily notice the untidy cut of the tin and the small nails used. Without any scripts or decorations, it was just a plain shield. A plain shield. Anyhow, this was the.shield of the Chairman of the school council for the sports events. But I consoled myself this might be better than the Crown of olive leaves offered in ancient Greece. For those students who had never seen a shield, it might be their pride. The prize of a competition need not be a precious one as they took part in the competition happily for the victory of their respective team. Anyway, a shield that recognized their etfort would make them happy and heartened. When the shield was ready, I didn' t want any more delay and arranged the Prize Giving Ceremony. The ceremony was held on the ground in front of the school buildings. There were no indiv idual prizes. l told them that individual prizes wou ld be given on the day both the annual meeting of Parents Teachers Association and Prize Giving ceremony would take place. 155

For the time being, there was only the shield for the winning Team which got the highest scores. After calculating the scores for football, volleyball and htoke- see-toe, Kyansitithar stood first. Second place went to Bayintnaung and Bandoola were in the third position. Alaungphaya stood fourth. The second, third and the fourth teams were given verbal compliments only. Now I feel very sorry. I wanted to give them something. But at that time, neither school nor I myself could offer anything to the students.. Everyone knew very well about that. I seriously celebrated the Prize Giving Ceremony with a shield made up of timber and used tin. The four teams took their places in the assembly ground. The teacher leaders of the teams stood in front of the students. Then the student leaders took their places. Behind them were the girls with the team signboard. Then, were the members of the teams. After everyone took their respective place, the ceremony started with Junior Assistant teacher, U Ngul Khan En as the Master of Ceremonies. First of all I made an opening address. Then I gave the shield to the winner, Kyansitthar Team. Both teacher leader and the student leader received the shield. 156

All the students and teachers recognized their effort with claps. They clapped only nine times The students were very happy. They respectfully received the sh ie ld. In my opening address, I exp la ined them the reasons why we could not offer the individual prize, seeking the ir understanding and acceptance. Anyway, they were happy for their triumph the same as those from the plains regions. When I saw th_em happy, I d idn ' t know why but I felt happy too. I wanted to be happy li ke this always. 157

<< I carried a cane not to hit the students but to threaten them as a teacher's tool. I didn't like the caning method. I used it to give them a warning.>> 158

CHAPTER 24 BOARDING SCHOOL GROUP STUDY One day out of a conversation with teacher Ngul khan En and teacher Pau khan khup, I found out the reasons why the students could not study well at their homes. At home they did not have any candles or any kind of lamp to use for their study. So students had to study near the fire place where all family-members usually gathered to keep themselves warm. The weather is too cold and eve1yone at home has to do their own task near that fi re place. Jt is also the place for family conversation. The women knit near the fireplace. Adults smoke there. Some adults drink \" Khaung\" or homemade wine. The students had to study there too. According to their lovely trad ition, if there 's a lass at home, many lads would come for courting. Parents had to go to bed early but these lasses and lads never went to bed early. Lads talked about funny matters. But they strictly followed the traditional discipline. lf the lass hadn' t yet selected anyone as a boyfriend, every lad had a legal right to visi t her. No fighting, no murder cases. lf a girl or a young woman offers the lad a cigarette from the opposite of the filter, he becomes hopeless. That meant she 159

does not like him. If she gives him from the filter side and lights the cigarette, that will be the sign it is O.Kay. The other lads must go back home. To get such an answer also takes a long time. Never give the answer easily. Some even had to wait for years. When the lads visit the house of the lass her parents need to go to bed early. They have never interfered with the youth's love affairs and choice. When a young woman comes of age, she will choose anyone she likes. No problems with her parents or brothers. Younger ones have legal right to select whoever she likes. They have discipline and they can choose on their own. No need to go out of sight. They can talk in front of the parents. If a girl likes someone, she can give an answer in the present of the parents as well. 'This tradition' could be regarded as a very high level cultural tradition. ( I wonder if this custom is still practiced 30 years later.) However, this system might be a sort of disturbance for the young students who need to study well. As a result many failed. Once failed, they left the school. In some cases, parents did not allow their own children to continue their study. The majority left the school without completing their studies. After I had learnt about their genuine situation, I needed to seek a way for them to be able to study with peace of mind in the evening. 160

At school I found an old kerosene lamp which needed to be fixed. That one was mended and I bought a new kerosene lamp for the students at my own expense. Then I encouraged the students to come to school and study. Then they had to sleep at school. I would call it a boarding school for group study. Students had to share the cost of kerosene. All students from grade 4 to grade 8 had to sleep at school. After their di~,._r, they had to come back to school. I arranged one building for boys and another one for girls. Teachers needed to take duty alternately. I provided a board and circle pieces for the game of draughts for the teachers on duty. I also provided them each a cup of coffee. At that time no instant coffee packages were available and I made C·offee only with sugar and coffee. Without milk, without milk powder. Only a mixture ofcoffee and sugar. If you visit a tea shop in Teddim and order a cup of coffee, you would see that the same method was used. They used the mugs from India and coffee cups were not made of china clay. I myself made cups of coffee for my teachers using the same method like the coffee shops in Teddim. The mugs were also provided. Sometimes I played games of draughts. Sometimes I shared knowledge from the books I had read. They were interested in my talks. I secretly tried to make them feel like they were paying a visit to school in the evening instead of performing a duty. If they 161

felt like they were performing a duty, they might get bored and sleepy. I myself also changed my mind-set. Ifl saw the students studying, I let them go with the flow and kept on playing the game of draughts. If noises started or heard their footsteps running around, I took the cane next to me and hit the wooden wall. I carried a cane not to hit the students but to threaten them, it was a teacher's tool. I didn't like the caning method. The cane was only used to give them a warning sound. After hitting the wall with the cane, the students kept quiet and read again. In the beginning weeks I myself strictly supervised the students and they studied seriously. They had to start by 6 p.m and had to go to bed by I0. Later I left them with the teachers on duty as these teachers were very reliable. I myself stayed at home writing a novel, \"Eain Met Ah Lwan\",(\"Dream for Yearning\"). The distance between school and home was within an ear shot. The school was on the hill and my house was under the hill. Students knew that at any time I could climb up to school from my house. As for me it was too cold that I had to wear piles of warm clothes and to endure the winds coming between the timbers on the wall while writing my novel. The small flame of the 162

candle was also dancing with the tune of winds which ran through the timbers. The novel was not written without worries. Once I heard the noises above the school, I just halted the ongoing writing activity and left for school. Then 1 hit the wall with the cane forcefully, the noises disappeared and I could hear their reading aloud. At that time I just recalled a story, \"Saya Saw's School\" written by Th~ikpan Maung Wa. Almost every evening I needed to give them warning sounds with the cane. Sometimes after l 0 although the Iight went out, they did not sleep and kept on talking. I had to go up there and make \"Ahem\" sounds as a warning. Both teacher Khai Mung and night guard spent their night-time with the children and I could go back and sleep at home without worries. I was happy to try to make them study to become well-versed persons. I did not feel tired or suffer from lack of sleep. That might be because of a teacher' s benevolent heart. 163

<< When we are providing education and knowledge to people, it does not matter if we don't have expensive facilities. We only need people to carry out what should be done for the benefit of human beings.>> 164

CHAPTER25 A SHIELD DECORATED WITH TIN AND AWARD GIVING CEREMONY. Because of the boarding school group study programme, the relationship between teachers and students seemed to be bet1er and closer. The students ~!so became like siblings who stayed in the same residence. I felt like al l of us had been travelling on a journey together. That programme made me unable to go to bed early and kept me writing my novel. While the students were reading, I was writing my novel and successfully passed the invaluable nights. Sometime l was in a very good mood and the plot went smoothly, the noises from the school invited me to give them a warning and l couldn't write comfo1tably. I left the ongoi ng part and climbed the hill holding the cane. After hitting the wall two or three times, I had to go round and check. \"Saya Peepar's coming\" they said and kept quiet. Reading aloud could be heard. 165

But I consoled myself that those with different calibers, different intelligent levels, and different attitudes were grouped and encouraged to study and that might make them noisy. Actually I pitied them a lot. They did not have any chance to study with electric lights like those who lived in many other towns. On a very cold mountain range, they tried to keep themselves warm, wearing blanket and lay coiled. They had to read what they did not understand well due to the language barrier. I did not want to put the blame on them as I saw them trying very hard to pass the exams, living their lives with too many difficulties. In my heart I had sympathy for them. It was really a heavy burden for me to carry them along the education route with loving kindness. But I did not want to groan over my duty. I had no intention to leave them half way. During the period of three academic years, I was determined to do my best to pull them along as much as I could. I had one duty left. That was to honour them after they had shown their skills and ability. I needed to make an arrangement for the Prize Giving Ceremony. The Parents Teachers Association's annual Meeting and Prize Giving Ceremony must be held. I discussed this with my teachers to hold it in the first week of February. The main difficulty was that the school did not have that much funds. 166

We had compensation money collected from those owners whose cows or horses ate up our cabbage plants. The numbers of prizes were many. Prizes were needed for those who stood first second and third from every section. From kindergarten to grade 8, it would become 27 prizes. Prizes for individual hygiene would also be 27.First and second prizes for the volley ball match came up \\Vith 12. The prizes for htoke-see-toe were 10. Track and Field for senior, junior and beginner level made up to 27. Prizes for Regular Attendance were 9 and Team champion prizes, one for Teacher team leader and another for Student team leader. The grand total was I36 prizes. Phew! Feeling stressed, I made a great sigh. ln fact, this numbers of prize was not too much for a middle school. However, it was too much for my school which did not have enough .funds. As before, I summoned both Khen Suan Mung and Khai Mung to order a shield with tin decorations. But this would be the Annual Champion shield and needed to be bigger than the previous one. More tin cans than before would be needed. But in the village nobody used condensed milk. Even the tea shop did not make tea with condensed milk. lt would be very difficult for them. Again l expected that they would solve the problem in their own way. l had a great headache for the prizes of different types. After careful calculation, it was decided to offer 5 Kyats for the first prize, 3 kyats for the second and 2 kyats for the third. 167

If compared to the present time, it might be a funny amount but at that time it was an acceptable level. A porter could earn at the rate of one kyat per one viss( 1.63 kilogram) from Teddim to Lai Tui. A middle school head master's salary was above 500 Kyats. At the Parents Teachers Association meeting, it was agreed to give like that. I had great relief when they informed me that this amount was the same as the previous year. In fact, I was sad. According to education theory, if the children were assigned difficult tasks, the prize should be something desirable. If a punishment was necessary, it must be severe. My decision for the prizes was anything but desirable. I knew it wasn't. But I was not rich. I had to save money for my air-ticket. I had only the salary of survival level. That's why I could not increase the prize money. I did not want to bully the parents who led the lives of hand to mouth. The award giving ceremony which was managed within the budget limit might not be very gorgeous but would be crystal clean. The children would not expect or demand a great amount of money as prizes. 168

Parents would also understand that I had not asked for their donation or quota amount of money to donate. I consoled myself that essence was more important than phenomena. To be able to get every students involved in the ceremony, there would be singing and dancing programmes from each section. But that wouldn't be a pure concert. The children might be happy as they would get a chance to show their abjlity. 1expected that parents would be pleased with their children's performance. 1 had an idea ofgiving them a card as an honour of their prize winning record. But I had no money to buy cards. Not enough time was left to order at a printing press in Mandalay or Yangon. No expenses fund for this either. At last I did something with the help of Khen Suan Mung. In those days, there were no type writers at a Middle school and were also no photocopying machines at the school. For the office documents, carbon paper was used for duplication. To prepare a large numbers of copies like question paper, the questions were written on the wax paper under which there must be a plate. That wax should be put on paper and then the ink was poured on that before pressing or rolling a used fluorescent lights tube. 169

It was necessary to press one after another. More than one hundred pages were written by myself. As I was a headmaster, I could not order others just pointing out with fingers. My hand writing was the best at this school. So there was no other choice. I myself wrote on the wax paper and then with the help ofKhen Suan Mung I had to press papers one after another to produce honor certificates. And then I had to sign as the P T A chairman and also present it to the student. It was arranged to hold the Prize Giving Ceremony on one Sunday noon. If invited to attend the meeting at 12noon, many people usually turned up. If it were some other time, not very many attended. Later I knew the reason. They usually went to the church every Sunday. There were 8 churches in Lai Tui. After Sunday mass, the invited crowd was already gathered to attend the meeting. Thus the PTA meeting was held on Sunday at noon. All parents were invited to the PTA annual meeting and the Prize Giving Ceremony. Especially those who had paid compensation money for their horses or cows were invited. As we wanted them to attend the meeting, the invitations were given by the teachers who were quite close to them. All attendees were offered a cup of coffee without any milk powder or condensed milk. Apart from the awardees, all students were invited to attend the ceremony. 170

My intention was that when they saw the prize winners, they feel adm iration and later try to become like them and also more students should get involved with school activities. Although they may not win the prize, they had to cheer the prize w111ners. No problem with seats here in LaiTui. If the hall was overcrowded, benches could be placed outside. Many wanted to take the seats outside. They seemingly prefer the space and freedom . At 12.30 the meeting started. I was feeling insecure by the decorations and setting of the ceremony. It was totally different from those ceremonies I myself had attended in the plains. Usually .the tables with the prize and the table of the Master of Ceremonies were covered with table cloths. Many vases with flowers could be seen. On the background screen, the words written on the card were cut and rearranged - Parents Teachers Assoc iation's Annual Meeting and Prize Giving Ceremony. Sofa settees are placed in the front row. Here no sofa settees but only 10 teachers' chairs were placed in the first row. All the rest were students' benches. No background screen. Nobody here was skillful enough to prepare such words with the card. Even if there were one, he would have difficulty to get cards. No flower vases. Old ragged table cloths were used. Three tables without table cloths were lined up together with the 171

Shield decorated with used tin and the envelopes with the prize money. The meeting signboard was written on a black board by Khen Suan Mung who had tried his best to make it beautiful. That was all the decorations for the ceremony. Nobody said anything, neither praise nor blame. Just following the usual routine work. I knew how to decorate for such a ceremony as I used to do it. The more money spent, the grander it would become. Jn cities some are pompous. Some wanted to attend a great grand ceremony. For that reason, a school needed to prepare a \"PT A annual Meeting and Award Giving\" Ceremony to be grand. Here at Lai Tui village, it was prepared with financial limitations and it should be seen from the essence of the ceremony point of view. No great grand things. No funds. But this would be a ceremony both to raise up the morale of the students and to lure the parents' interest to get involved with the school's activity. At the ceremony the owners of the cattle. were invited to present the prize to the students. They got surprised and also pleased with their role. By realizing that their compensation money could help carry out such a ceremony, their negative attitude towards the school could be erased from their minds. 172

Teacher En later informed me that the ceremony for that academic year was seen as a successful one by the village Party and Council leaders. I asked the reasons and the response was that many parents and students attended the ceremony and even the shield could be given. The parents were a lso pleased with the prizes their children received. In previous years, the number of attendees was few. I mainly targeted to have a great number of attendees by inviting the leaders of the religious groups, party and council members, those whose financial status was high and the owners of the cattle to present the different prizes. New categories were created to give prizes. Students were ordered to come along with their parents. Let them know that athis was mandate. As a headmaster instead of feel ing upset because of the financial limitations of the school, he should try to offer the parents recognition. Parents should feel that they were recognized and the prize presenters should also realize their important role in society. Students should also grab the fruits of their effort. In other words, I wanted the students to realize that everybody must reap what they have sown. As for the teacher, they would feel satisfied for the parents' appreciation of what they had done for their children. The next thing those parents preferred was the entertainment programmes by the students and teachers. The essence of a 173

school award giving ceremony would be no other than these facts. No need to give precious prizes. A shield decorated with used tin could help hold a meaningful ceremony. By noticing these points, my nervousness before the ceremony due to the plain setting of the ceremony disappeared from my heart. When we are giving education and knowledge to the people, it does not matter if we don't have expensive facilities. We only need people carry out what should be done for the benefit of human beings. With that attitude anything can be done. Man plays a crucial role in any circumstances. I do believe that human beings are paramount, human beings are vital from my own expenence. 174

<<A school should have the power to influence the community. The community should rely on the school>> 175

MULTI -RELIGIOUS GROUPS' PRAYERS TOGETHER The school's lack of physical things should be strengthened with mental power. I was thinking what I could do. I tried to achieve mutual understanding between the school and the community. I was making plan to persuade the village authorities concerned, leaders of the communities, religious leaders and the youth to be interested in the school. They should think that \"this is our school\". This is the place where our sons, nephews and grandchildren study. They should have hearts filled up with the intention to help the school to become better than now. I must try to achieve that. To be able to achieve all round development of a school might not depend only on a headmaster who was all the time busy with office work. I did not believe that it would be achieved by the teaching of the teachers. School should have the power to influence the community. The community should rely on the school. Because of the school, our village could enjoy development. The school is really our pride. The sound of the school bell is a good tune for the community. Without this school, our village 176

might become a desert. A head master should try to encourage the community to have such belief. The headmaster must try his best to change the mindset of the community. I took that duty without being ordered by any one. Thus, I always attended almost every social or religious ceremony in this village. \"If I am invited I will come.\" I announced. I looked upon my colleague, Teacher Ngul Khan En as a religious leader and a community leaQer as wel l as my close friend. I did not look upon him as my subordinate. I treated him like a leader of the community. l asked for his suggestions and help regarding school activ it ies. In return he responded with respect as he understood that the headmaster trusted him and appreciated his coordination. He always helped the headmaster with assistance and advice. l had also visited and delivered speeches at all the churches in the village. I took some quotations from the bible to tell them to see education as a valuable thing. The more educated persons in the village, the more developed the village. Almost every Sunday I went to the church and delivered a speech. Whatever I said in Burmese, teacher En translated into Chin language. They even said that the church became overcrowded with villagers who wanted to listen to my speech. We, a united pair, delivered speeches and the villagers were pleased to listen to us. 177

I had been to all the churches in this village. I had already discussed the development of the village as well as how to increase the number of literate person in the village, with the leaders of the religious groups. In such a way, it was easier to make an arrangement to hold a prayer service at the school with multi religious groups. To get a better result for the exams I together with my teachers and students tried very hard. But I wished my students received great blessings from their God via the prayer services of the multi religious groups. I wanted to host the prayer service in order to raise up the morale of the students. First of all, I discussed the matter with my teachers and they agreed the plan and also pleased. Therefore, the PTA committee meeting was called. The leaders of the party and village council as well as the preachers from the different sect were invited to the meeting. At the meeting I explained my aim and intention of the prayer services. .Everybody agreed. However, I presented an important issue~ That issue was very crucial. I requested sect leaders or preachers not to talk about their sect and religion but just to say prayers according to their traditional style. 178

Otherwise they might spend a long time talking about their religion. Moreover, the religious groups from different sect would be present and if they talked about only their respective religion sect, there might be disagreement and argument with each other. The main intention was to achieve unity and if it created disagreement and argument, it would lead to worse than good. That's why a request was made for them to come and only conduct prayer service without any other propaganda for the sake of good re~ults and school development. During the service, they were men of their word. No preachers or leaders talked about their religion. Just prayers were said for the betterment of the school results. As it was a Sunday, after their Sunday mass they just needed to climb' down the hill to my school. One church group after another turned up and the school compound was overcrowded. There were 8 different sects such as Evangelist, Catholic, Chin Baptist, etc. According to the lots drawn, the respective churches conducted their prayer service. They said prayers with all their heart. Some groups even took about half an hour. It was somewhat like a show of their team's strength, they were pleased with the services. Almost all the villagers came and offered their prayer service. l did not want to miss a great opportunity. 179

I presented the pitiful state of the school to them. I told them maintenance service was needed for the building for middle school level students. Due to the lack of funds, the Prize Giving Ceremony was not that great grand. To achieve better result for the grade four and grade eight levels, the boarding school group study programme had been introduced and, the numbers of students compared to the population was under par and so the candle light operation had also been introduced. As a result the parents were forced to participate in that programme. I wanted both their understanding and forgiveness for that. In order to make the students happy at school, the sports and matches for football and volleyball were introduced at school. Claiming compensation money from the owners of the horses and cows which destroyed the school cabbage plants was just to collect the funds for the benefit of the school. To be able to run a school for years, the increasing numbers of students was one of the major requirements in that regard. If the numbers decreased, the middle school would be downgraded to the primary school level. Therefore, by the grace of God, I believed that the Laitui School) results would be higher and more developed than before and the whole village should try together to achieve the desired result. I understood that a headmaster must be not only an administrator but also a good organizer.. Thus I delivered a persuasive speech after the prayer services at school. 180

I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. Anyway, my students and my teachers would gain mental strength because the whole village came and conducted the prayer services. I expected that the whole village might have thought and won-ied about the results of the school. l sincerely admitted that I was simply trying to create the integration ofthe school and the community. I understood that sincere co-operation and co-ordination of the vi llagers playeQ a salient role for a school to be successful. 181

<< I missed my colleagues who taught their students with benevolent attitude, sacrifice and love ofteaching.>> 182

CHAPTER27 BE HAPPY AT THE SCHOOL THAT WILL MAKE YOU GOOD AT STUDYING We could see the fruit of our effo11s when the results were announced. For the 1984-85 academic year, the grade 8 result was very good. As eleven out of fou11een passed the exam, the success percentage was 71.43%. For the grade four exam result, 39 students out of 46 passed and the percentage reached up to 84.78%. To compare to the schools from the plains, the result would be not that high. But for this middle school, it could be said that the result leapt up. Before I got there, the result was zero. The grade four results always stood at under 50 %. In that academ ic year, my school success percentage of grade 8 stood second in the Chin state. But the total numbers of the students who had taken exam was under 20 and the school did not qualify to be considered for the prize. No problem. It was impo1tant for my students to pass the exam. I wanted them to know that due to their efforts they did deserve the result. 183

If encouraged, the teachers would raise their morale with a happy working environment, and I found that a satisfactory result would be achieved. Parents were very glad to know that their children's triumph would make them to take great pride of them and they were also the pride of the village. 1 remembered an article written in 'Pyinnyar Lawka\" magazine with the title\" Happy at school, Good at study\". Then I was a Senior Assistant Teacher at State High School Pyundazar in Nyaunglaybin Township. I had to can-y out lots of co-cun-iculum activities. The headmaster U Nu also believed the value of all round education. Therefore, the Fine Arts team, the Sports and Physical Education team, the team for upgrading Literature and Knowledge, Painting, Handy craft, Home Economic, Agriculture, Excursion, School Hygiene, and library were organized and teachers were assigned. As secretary of the Parents Teachers Association, I had to get involved with almost all these teams and movements. Extra-curriculum activities were continuously introduced and parents and citizen started making comments. What were they doing except studying? The result might become lower than the previous years. They said that because they were worried and they said it with good intentions. 184

But for us it was more important to have all- rounded education than just the exam results. Once a student got involved in extra curriculum activiti es, he might attain know ledge which could be applied in the real world situation. Extracurricular activities would not lead a student to be weak in study just because of participating in these activities. Monthly tests were held. Extra classes were conducted. The sports comQetition was held. The school bulletin was published. The school library was opened. There were many tal ks. The Red Cross Training course was opened. The Band troop was organized. Moreover, the students went to the rice fields where there was a shortage of paddy trans-planters and helped transplanting for eleven days. These fields were under the Nyaunglaybin Township's Extensive Rice Cultivation project. The farmers satis fi ed with the transplanting method used by students who trans-planted the seedl ings using rope. Every 80 students offered their volunteer service for every one acre (4047 square metres). The excursion team took those volunteer trans-planters who were middle school leve l students to Kyaikhteeyoe pagoda and those of high school level students to Thantaunggyi in Karen state on the excursion trips. Students were so happy that they might keep that experience during that academic year as a memorable period in their life. 185

The Fine Arts group also presented a school concert for two nights together with the School Buddhist Association. They presented a play, Ah-nyeint, group dance etc. with over twenty items. Despite these extra-curriculum activities, the exam results were not bad. The school achieved 81. 12% for Grade 8 (Basic Middle School Examination) and for Basic Education High Schoo1Examination (Grade 10), percentage was 55.3 5. We could take great pride of the school because it achieved the highest percentage in Nyaunglaybin Township and in Eastern Bago Division the result was recorded as the second highest. It proved wrong the opinion of those who predicted that if extra- curriculum activities were focused too much, the result would be bad. I wrote my article, 'Be happy at school, be good at study\" with the example of Nyaunglabin State High School. My manuscript was published in July 1981 in \"Pyinnyar Lawka\" magazine and that was 30 years ago. - It made me happy to see my article's title used by many schools as one of their mottos. That motto was my educational belief and also my educational guideline. I took my duty seriously as a headmaster of Laitui State Middle School with that belief. The result was similar to that of S.H.S, Pyundazar. 186

The students at Lai Tui were happy at school and they spent almost all their time at school except for meal time. The extracurricular activities were carried out happily. They tried their best and passed the examinations. I could not forget the scene of very nice relationship between teachers and students unti l today. I could recall their faces as they happily got involved with the school activities: I missed my cotleagues who taught their students with \"Benevolent attitude, sacrifice and love of teaching\". The image of the school on a hill, The flag-post in front of the school. The field in front of the flag-post. The movements of the teachers and students on that field. All these images were imprinted on my heart like engraved stone. 187

<< Although I liked mist and the cold season, I could not withstand the very cold weather. This year December was severely cold.>> 188