Teachers' Day in Malaysian schools

Australian schools don't generally pay much attention to Teachers' Day - if anyone knows when it is, they might just bring the teacher an apple. But here in Malaysia it is a big deal.

This is the school where I mentor on a Sunday, when Teachers' Day was celebrated in 2014 (it was really last Friday, but as that was the weekend, it was too important to miss and was shifted to Sunday.)

Except that the teachers were all wearing their special batik uniforms (usually only worn on a Thursday to demonstrate national pride), the day started looking fairly normal, with an assembly.

The kids are all standing in neat rows, the teachers are mostly sitting on plastic chairs on the platform at the front.

It was obviously going to be a longer than usual assembly, and the children were allowed to sit.

And the teachers were all invited to the stage - where they sang a special song (not in English, so I don't really know).

Then all of the teachers lined up (including me), and all of the children kissed their hands (the boys greeted the men only, and the girls greeted the female teachers only.)

The teachers then did a lot of hugging and kissing and laughing - for some of them this was their last Teachers' Day before retirement, so it was very significant.

And then it was time for fun and games - for the teachers, not the children. Everyone had a turn at shooting netball hoops. Including me.

I missed one, and the other went straight through. Then we played hoopla, throwing hoops over traffic cones.

(I got two out of two!)

The children then went off to get their bags full of presents for their teachers. (The pretty pink and blue uniforms are pre-schoolers.)

This very popular teacher was mobbed by eager students offering presents as she went to her car. Some kids even handed me small gifts.

Then there were songs and jokes, and eats of course. It's nice that the kids have so much respect for their teachers and the opportunity to express it.