special report Give her a pencil and a paper and Wong Chin Lee will show that education can start anywhere, even in a small Chinese temple.

The Penang-born teacher, now based in Kuala Lumpur, needs no official teaching certificate to prove that she can teach and get along with students. Not when she has the passion and ability to instantly connect with students from SRJK (C) Damansara.

Wong was one of the 10 winners of 'Best Warrior' award from Chinese daily Guan Ming Daily on May 18, for her contributions to Chinese education.

Those familiar with the story of the Chinese primary school in Petaling Jaya will know it was closed by the education ministry in 2001, sparking a spirited fight-back by a diehard few who refused to relocate their children to new premises 4km away.

Wong, 26, has been with the school for all seven difficult years, choosing to stay alongside the students as they continued their studies in a makeshift school occupying air-conditioned containers placed in the temple grounds.

From a temporary teacher, she became a permanent one and is now the school principal.

She does not have a single regret and plans to stay the course in demanding that the school be re-opened. It now has 36 students, 12 teachers (two of whom teach part-time) and the principal.

Objections overcome

Wong told malaysiakini that her parents were not supportive of her decision to stay in the school as they felt the school has "no future".

"They even came to the school few years ago to do a spot-check on me to make sure that their eldest daughter was not being cheated by bad guys," she recalled.

"At first, they were disappointed that I had given up the opportunity to further my studies in the US and tried to persuade me to apply for a better job."

When she stood firmly by her decision, her parents were touched by her passion for the needs of the children and began to respect her decision.

"Sometimes they have also helped me financially and I am grateful for that. I take their support as an indirect way of supporting the school," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Even though I am overloaded with all kinds of tasks and activities, I enjoy my job very much."

She said the school lacks trained teachers and cannot afford to set up a proper library for the students.

"We teach because of passion but most of us here are not professionally trained, so sometimes it is hard for us to improve our teaching skills," she said.

She credited her colleagues for taking the initiative to organise a study group among themselves to share knowledge and read useful articles.

"(Chinese education movement) Dong Zong provided a pre-training programme for new teachers but I feel that it is not enough as it covers only new teachers. Senior teachers should also be exposed to new things," she said.

"(If anyone wants to teach here) we hope they can serve at least one year, have sound knowledge of the subject they wish to teach and understand the school's background."

Wong also welcomed donations of books to the library so that the children will have quality books to read.

"These days, children's books are expensive especially if they are imported and are illustrated in colour. The school cannot afford these, so we would appreciate whatever the public can donate."

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