BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

STUDENTS and teachers from Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB) Secondary School left for Johor, Malaysia, yesterday to compete in the Samura 5th International Cultural, Science and Educational Festival (SICSEF) 2015.

The delegation comprising 10 students and two supervising teachers will have students compete in several categories in the festival.

These include quranic recitation, SICSEF public speaking, Bahasa Melayu pidato (speech) competition, poster drawing and best practices in education exhibition.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, supervising teacher and head of delegation Zamany Hj Md Rais said he was confident that the students would be able to get medals in their respective categories.

This is the fourth time YSHHB Secondary School is participating in the three-day festival.

Preparations began early for the students with training starting as early as the blessed month of Ramadhan this year. The students practised for the competition with their relevant subject teachers.

The students are currently in Years Seven, Nine and 10.

“Each year we have managed to win something at the festival. With 10 students competing this year, I believe we can get at least half of the team to place with a medal,” said Zamany.

He felt that the students competing in the pidato and public speaking competition have a good chance of winning.

“We find that children and young people nowadays are very smart and vocal when they speak. They are also quite fluent with their words,” he said.

The head added that he hopes the students would be able to use their experience competing in a positive manner.

“I hope the students will get new experiences and knowledge because these experiences will be able to help them improve in many ways,” he said.

In a statement issued by YSHHB Secondary School, the objective of participating in the festival is to provide an avenue and opportunity for students to compete in an international arena, to learn from other competing schools and to showcase Brunei’s SPN21 curriculum, amongst others.

The Brunei Times