Current Issues, Featured, Opinion

School Spotlight: Program SST at SK Tebong | Instilling a Culture of Respect and Gratitude

September 22, 2022

22 September 2022

This story was originally featured in Shikshalokam’s “Small Steps to Build Great Schools” published in September 2022. The book highlights stories of educational leadership successes from around the globe, and Program SST, an initiative by Cikgu Razman Mohammad (ALP officer & SISC+), Cikgu Suhailah (School Leader), and Cikgu Amirul (Teacher Leader), was selected to be included from Malaysia. Program SST was also one of six school initiatives recognised during the Sekolah Super Conference 2022 for its impact in student involvement.

Challenge: Building a sense of pride and school spirit

Teachers and school administrators noticed that school morale and spirit were poor among students at Tebong Primary School. In a student questionnaire that was run at the start of this program, one-third of students admitted they did not smile or say thank you to their teachers, and even those who did do so, only practised these habits occasionally. Additionally, another 16% of respondents admitted they had never greeted school staff before. This negative culture impacted students’ involvement in school, school environment, and was not conducive for instilling the values of respect and gratitude.

The reality is that Tebong Primary School is a small school located 35 kilometres out of town, with a modest enrollment of 137 students and 18 teachers. Many of the students are from nearby indigenous communities, and 60% of them come from low-income households. Hence, Tebong Primary School was seen to be a small school without an identity or reputation to be proud of.

To address this, the project spearheaded by Mr Amirul, Mr Razman, and Ms Suhailah sought to nurture a positive culture and environment at Tebong Primary School, by focusing on three simple daily actions: greeting (Salam), smiling (Senyum), and saying thank you (Terima kasih), which became known as Program SST. They also created a school motto — #SKTEBONGDIHATI (Tebong Primary School is in my heart) — and six school values.

Putting ideas into action

Having researched and analysed the problem, the team proceeded to implement their intervention:

The team brainstorm ideas to foster school spirit
School Improvement Specialist Coach (Mr Razman) and Senior Assistant (Ms Suhailah) provide ongoing guidance
Launch of the Program SST with a focus on three simple daily actions: greeting (Salam), smiling (Senyum) and saying thank you (Terima kasih) to be done by students
Daily motivational cheers before and after class — SK Tebong Di Hati! Senyum, Salam, Terima Kasih. #SKTEBONGDIHATI. Byeee!
The team creates a school motto — #SKTEBONGDIHATI and six school values
The team, along with students, creates and put up buntings and decorations around the school for the program
The team produces a video to be shared with parents and the community to showcase the official SST cheer, an SST sketch by students and teachers, and an overview of activities during Program SST.
The team designs weekly activities for student, teacher, and community participation, such as
- A scrapbooking competition on the theme SST (Salam, Smile, Thank You)
- A poster drawing contest with the theme Let’s Smile and Say Thank You
- A selfie collage of students to promote the practice of SST values through creative multimedia use, and the participation of parents and guardians in this campaign.
A TikTok video competition with the theme SST (Salam, Smile, Thank You) at home

Impact of the project

The project has changed the way students, teachers, and school staff interact with one another, and encouraged students in particular to be braver and more proactive to speak.

The variety of activities were effective in engaging the students, for example H—, an indigenous student who is generally introverted, who took part in the TikTok challenge with his sibling. Meanwhile, another student A—, who was seen to be reserved and passive, came out of her shell and was awarded “Most Positive Student” in the program. The daily cheers that were done before and after class also raised student spirits and motivation.

Teachers worked closely with one another on the various projects and developed stronger bonds, while also honing their organisational skills. As a whole, the school has become a more positive environment, where mutual respect and gratitude is practised daily.

Budaya yang sangat baik, perlu ditambahbaik dan diteruskan sehingga menjadi jenama sekolah yang boleh dicontohi.
Pn Masrurah Binti Dzulkefli, the School Principal of Tebong Primary School

Cikgu Razman Mohammad is a School Improvement Specialist Coach (SISC+) at PPD Alor Gajah, Malacca, and an Applied Leadership Programme (ALP) 2021/22 Officer.

The ALP is Edvolution’s flagship school transformation programme. We coach and support education officers (pegawai PPD & JPN) to drive strategic, community-centred initiatives that address educational issues affecting vulnerable students. By investing in the leadership development of district and state education officers across Malaysia, we empower localised communities to address learning loss at the grassroots level.

Edvolution Enterprise is a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Penang, Malaysia. Founded in 2017, we develop transformative leaders, competent educators and effective community builders in schools.