Principal: They want the best

Published on: Saturday, June 25, 2016

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By Kan Yaw Chong
ONLY the best get selected for the Sakura Exchange Program in Science, says Lorina Tiong, Principal of SM All Saints’, Likas.

Academic performance has the last say, she added.

“They want the best, they want the top students, especially in the pure sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology and if they are good in these, they are automatically good in additional maths,” Tiong said at the closing ceremony of the inaugural event here recently.

But the eventual success still depends on support of parents on both sides since it requires their time and efforts to host exchange students, said Tiong who thanked the parents on the Sabah end besides the robust work of coordinators Ms Chie Kosuga on the Japan end and Filonia Jane in addition to Senior Assistant Hue at the All Saints’ end.

“Without them I don’t think we can experience so many things within four short days, so the school really appreciate their contribution and acknowledgement by the Ministry of Education Japan in our participation of this Sakura programme,” Tiong said.

“We just hope that this program will be ongoing as we had discussed earlier on with Chie and Teacher-in-charge Matsato Tsuchida,” she said.

“No doubt this is the first exchange since September 2015 when our students went over to Hokkaido who returned with a lot of good reports which excited families and parents what their children were doing in Japan during that brief one week,” she said.

“I believe it is a very beneficial programme, especially to All Saints’ because we need such kind of program to help us look into other places like Japan for our students to experience some research work in Japanese universities,” Lorina said.

“Since we have started, we don’t want to stop there but rather the beginning of a long journey, we want our students to go over and really learn something from our friends in Japan. I know they have learnt lot so we might go into something more substantial such as research and come out with a paper as a joint venture with Keisei High School at the end,” Tiong said.

Masato Tsuchida, teacher-in-charge of the four Keisei High School exchange students said his first ever trip to Southeast Asia and definitely Malaysia “is almost like a dream.”

“The host families accepted our four students just like your children and made their stay so comfortable for which I am very grateful,” Masato said.

“Equally, the All Saints’ students made good friends with our students, they got along so well with our students,” noted Masato who promised to go back to Japan to spread the good words.

Filonia Jane, a Head teacher in the sciences, paved the way in 2015 when she brought a group of students on the debut start of the exchange visit to Keisei High School and also to Hokkaido Sapporo University and Rakuno Gakuen University where Ms Chie Kosuga works.

“It was a very interesting programme, we had a lot of exciting activities and exposure at the Keisei High School and also at the two universities,” recalled Filonia who stayed with Masato’s family during that trip.