SBU - A Perspective

Some time ago, I posed a question on the BBGS Facebook group asking SBU students what it was like to belong to the new school. Here's an interesting perspective from Nik Hizwa Jasmin, who's currently studying in Australia. This feature does contain some strong opinions(and sad developments) but then again, BBGSians are known for being forthright, so let's keep an open mind and hear what she has to say...

I was fortunate enough to be a part of both schools, BBGS and SMKSBU. Unfortunately, even though they are still considered as the same school, I look at it as 2 different schools. I did my entire high school in the new BBGS building in Cheras but, when people ask me , "Where did you go to school?", I say BBGS, not SBU simply because SBU has no culture and nobody knew what SBU even means. I did primary school in BBGS so, I knew the culture very very well and had great respect for the school.Unfortunately, when we moved to Cheras, I felt like the building looked like a shoe factory and had no resemblance at all to BBGS itself. The hallways were so dark and the classes were so rigid. To me, from my own 6 years of experience in Taman Shameline, the inside and outside of SMKSBU is literally like a factory. But the museum is great though.

During my time, we still had inter-class Choral Speaking competitions and cheerleading. I took great pride when my class won the inter-class Choral Speaking competitions and we were so proud to win national cheerleading competitions. These are the things that made BBGS a well-known school. The students are normally the loudest people cheering in the hall because we have the BBGS spirit.

Of course, recently we won the 2008 national cheerleading competition and I could not have been happier because it has been years since we won. Congratulation girls! But I also heard that the new headmistress thinks that Choral Speaking, and celebrations in school are a waste of time and they no longer have Choral Speaking competitions, Teacher's Day celebration, Hari Raya celebration, etc in school. I feel saddened by this as I remember the best times during these events in school.

Honestly, as an alumni, I feel outraged by the decision. Why are they totally demolishing the BBGS culture? Now, not only is the heritage building of BBGS gone, but the culture that was supposed to be brought over to the new generation has also been demolished with time. Not to mention taking boys in and making it a co-ed school.

When I started Form 1 at the new building in Cheras, we had an amazing headmistress who was determined to keep the culture and she had the same BBGS spirit as the students. We loved and had great respect for Pn Noor Rizan Bapoo Hashim. In 2003, I personally think the school started to crumble slowly when she got promoted to a higher post in the Education Ministry and left the school to a headmistress who had no clue what the school was about. Of course, we're happy for her as now, she has become a highly regarded member in the Education Ministry, but we certainly felt a great loss.

As students, we can feel the lack of the BBGS spirit and it breaks my heart. But I do hope that the heritage of BBGS continues and grows with every new generation in SBU.