Upon entering SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg (SMK TAHO) Kuching, one would feel as if they are visiting a local garden, complete with the serene sounds of waterfall from the school’s fountains.
A person’s upbringing relies mostly on their experience at home, at school and with the outside world. During school days particularly, a student can spend somewhere between six to eight hours with their teachers.
However, the principal of SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg (SMK TAHO), Kuching believes that not all hours should be spent in the classroom. “For me, it should not be limited to classroom only. That is why I will organise events, or bring the students out to join numerous activities and competition,” said principal Affida Helmi.
Affida also added that this is the school’s way to ensure the students graduate from secondary school with more memories than just classroom learning. “Our objective is to make the students love school, and love coming to school.”
One of the competitions that the school recently participated was the 13th Asia Pacific Orchid Conference (APOC) held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching on July 23 to 28, where they won first place in the orchid landscape competition.
New Sarawak Tribune decided to visit the school to learn more of their endeavour with orchids, only to find out that more beauties were blooming within the school’s vicinity.
Upon entering, one would feel as if it is a visit to a local garden complete with the serene sounds of waterfall from the school’s fountains.
Through the school’s ‘Kelab Keceriaan’, 50 students under the guidance of teachers Norkiah Abdul Wahab and Awang Shahrin, will oversee the school’s landscape every Thursday morning.
Apart from that, the students’ will also plant and replant flowers to maintain the gardens. “We would involve our students with landscaping to give them a chance to share their opinions and be creative with the design,” said Affida.
She continued, “It is part of our ‘Love our school’ programme. At the same time, the students have a sense of responsibility towards the plants, as if it belongs to them, and not just the school. This is the value that we want to instil in them. They will feel more happy at school, especially when they see the end product.”
Kelab Keceriaan
Norkiah shared that the school was relocated in 1994 from their previous location. “When we moved in, it was all bare. So we started to create our own landscape and mini gardens, and we get even more motivated when we won a ‘keceriaan’ competition some years back.”
It was due to participating in various landscape and flower competitions that students start to show more interest in the club.
When asked on the benefits of this activity in school, Norkiah listed out, “Through their participation, students get to learn how to plant and fertilise correctly. The school will be a beautiful place, and as we are human, it is only natural for us to love seeing beautiful things.”
Norkiah shared a tip for a healthy plant, “We would alternate the use of chicken excreta fertiliser for six months, and then the next six months we would use a normal fertiliser.” This is so that the plant would not be immune by the fertiliser given.
Under the club, the students will be given the chance to make humus soil, an organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material by soil microorganisms.
Venturing into orchids, Norkiah revealed that it started in 2013 when the Kuching North City Council provided the school with 50 baby orchids. “We started from there, and we got our first win in 2015 at the International Orchid Show — the first to several trophies.”
She also disclosed that the money won from competitions would be used to buy more orchids to add more colour the school’s garden.
Currently, the school has at least six different zones with few mini gardens in each zones. It was also surprising also to see that the toilets of SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg were graced with sprouting flowers. There were even pots of plastic flowers at each pillars of the buildings.
On the other hand, the hardscapes at the school were the fruits of labour of Awang Shahrin and his students. Their work could be seen in the forms of bridges, stools, tables and others. There is even a barber corner built by the teacher himself.
SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg, Kuching was initially known as ‘Across River Secondary School’ before 1970. Their previous location was at Jalan Astana, Kuching before settling down at their current location in Jalan Demak.
