Rising Above

Mr James Raj

YSS Northern Region Officer

The theme for the Skills Training Camp for this year is ‘Rising Above’ . The theme denotes that an individual can emerge as a successful person by realizing the inner strength and potentials he or she has. No matter how adverse their situation maybe, one can achieve his dreams and aspire to become high achiever. But one must cultivate a winning attitude.

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The first skills training camp was held in Kulim, Kedah from 30th – 1st February at the Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Centre. A total of 70 students from the institute took part in this camp. The YSS team who conducted the 3 days camp involved Mr. Barmasevam, YSS Director for Special Projects, Mr. Gunapathy Arumugam, Mr. Narendran and Mr. James Raj.

The camp had 5 main sessions with that teemed with high interaction and team work. The sessions were, Think Positive, Act Positive, Impossible but nothing is Impossible, Power of Endurance, Rising Above and Reach the Stars. During one of the group discussion which was conducted in an informal manner, the students raised questions on love and sex.

Mr. Gunah and I conducted the session. We were aghast that the students had so much of mythical information about love and sex. They were rather misled to believe that sex before marriage is acceptable in today’s society and what we noted was they lacked self control. During our discussion, we corrected their thinking pattern and gave them a sound understanding on love and sex. We also advised them to be actively involved in social and religious activities and sports to strengthen their self control and absenteeism from unhealthy activities.

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On the last day of the camp, 49 students received their graduation certificates from the institute. These students have completed their 10 months skills training on Mechatronics. The certificates were delivered by Mr. Wan, Executive Director of the institute and Mr. Barmasevam, one of the Directors of YSS.

The program saw parents and relatives of the students coming in to witness this very auspicious moment. Mr. Wan in his speech congratulated the students’ effort and motivated them to continue to flourish. However, he also cautioned them not to be too contented after receiving their certificates. Mr. Barmasevam explained to the parents’ on the government’s committment to assist the Indian youths.

Mr. Gunah encouraged the parents to provide love and care for their children. He also motivated the parents not to neglect their responsibilities and play a vital role to see their children succeeding in their lives.

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I could see a sense of achievement on their faces when they received their certificates. Prior to the graduation ceremony I had an opportunity to speak to the Course coordinator, Mr. Moorthy. He told me that in the beginning he faced a lot of difficulties with the Indian students as they misbehaved and did not show interest in their training.

But with patience and perseverance the lecturers who were all Malays and Mr Moorthy himself were able to bring out the best in the students. “Now after 10 months, all the students have made it and surely they will become somebody in future”, said Mr. Moorthy. These students who have not done well in their SPM have proven themselves to achieve in skills training and are now motivated to pursue further and want to make a difference in their lives. As I see it is not easy to work with this type of group. But with commitment and perseverance, we can lead them on to the road of success.

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