Jonas (front) leads the singing of school anthem Tebakang Peduli. Manyin and Jimmy are at fourth and fifth right respectively.
SERIAN: It was a night of double joy for SMK Tebakang last Saturday as the school celebrated its 40th anniversary and the launch of its long-awaited alumni association.
The dinner held at the Serian community hall was attended by former students and graced by several former principals including the first principal Jonas Noeb who headed the school when it was established in 1974.
Even the guest-of-honour Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin was a former principal having helmed the school for eight years and three months.
Manyin, in his speech, praised the ex-students for initiating and forming the alumni association as a platform to network and to work with other entities.
Noting that the alumni comprised individuals who had excelled despite early hardship, he called on the alumni to assist their alma mater with programmes that can improve the school’s academic achievement.
“In those (early) days, there were not enough food, and we lacked basic facilities. And yet, the students then did well, as they benefited from the ‘blessing of scarcity’.
“It’s now time for the alumni to give back to society, by helping SMK Tebakang to excel. Just because the school can now afford to give six meals a day to the students, we do not want them to suffer from the ‘curse of luxury’, so please assist in building up the standard of the school,” he said.
As the elected representative for the area and a former principal, Manyin said he is always with SMK Tebakang, and feels proud when the school does well but sad when it did otherwise.
He also pledged RM20,000 as grant for SMK Tebakang Alumni Association to organise programmes this year.
Meanwhile, the school principal Carter Ballang and alumni association president Dr Alim Impira pledged to work together to improve the academic performance.
The dinner’s highlight was the singing of the school’s anthem ‘Tebakang Peduli’ in Malay, English and Bidayuh.
Among those who attended the dinner were former Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald, also a former principal and Serian District Council deputy chairman Dr Simon Sinang Bada.