KUANTAN – Teaching a Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2020 candidate with special needs who has hearing problems while wearing a face mask, as required during the Covid-19 pandemic, had been a challenging yet valuable experience for Zainurah Muhamad.
Other than having to use hearing aids, she said the student also reads lip movements to understand what is being taught and of course, with a face mask on, this is a problem.
Her student, Hanees Daliela Hasbullah, 18, from SMK Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom here, is said to have suffered from hearing loss following a high fever when she was 5 years old.
“As such, I recorded a video of myself without a face mask so that Daliela can read my lips for any topic that is difficult for her to understand,” she told Bernama when met at her house at Aspa Cottage here recently.
The efforts certainly paid off when the Bahasa Melayu teacher heard the good news that Daliela came up tops among SPM 2020 candidates with special needs in Pahang when she managed to score 6As – 2A+ (including for Bahasa Melayu), 3A-, 1A, 1B and 4C – out of the 11 subjects she had sat for.
Zainurah said Daliela also proved that disability was never a barrier for her to compete with her classmates in the mainstream schooling system, despite having to cope with skipping classes for medical appointments almost every month.
“Daliela had also experienced some issues with her hearing aid that caused her to not be able to hear what was being taught. There was this one time the device got damaged and took her almost a month to get a replacement, but during that period Daliela attended classes as usual and we (teachers) had to teach in a loud voice.
“If Daliela was still unable to understand a topic, she would come see us after class to get further explanation on it,” she said.
Zainurah said she is touched by Daliela’s determination and perseverance in fulfilling her promise to score A+ for Bahasa Melayu.
On the implementation of home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the teacher admitted that it is quite a challenge for her as she has to get used to using the Google Meet and Telegram applications as new classroom tools.
“When it comes to difficult topics, I will make a video recording and send it to students via Telegram so that they can play it repeatedly until they understand,” she said.
Meanwhile, Daliela – who lives in Kg Pasir Garam, Beserah, here – said she is forever indebted to all her teachers who never got tired of helping her even after school hours.
My friends are also very helpful. They know and understand my condition. I also decided to stay at the hostel since Form 1 to make it easier for me to focus on my studies.
“I have made a habit of going to bed early and waking up at 4am daily to do revision,” said the second of five siblings, who intends to pursue a degree in chemical engineering.
Daliela said she started using hearing aids when she was in Standard 3 after undergoing a medical examination.
This was after her parents Hasbullah Yusoff, 49, and Nik Rokiah Nik Hassan, 45, were told by her teacher that Daliela did not seem to hear instructions given in class.
Despite being categorised as a student with special needs, Daliela refused to be given any privilege, instead preferring to challenge herself to take on responsibilities, including by becoming a school prefect and president of clubs at the school. – Bernama, June 13, 2021
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