where i thought for a few months in a programme offered by the centre to the high school students. my first impression was like returning to my primary school. the school uses a drum to announce breaks. lessons last for 45 minutes after which students get a 15-min break when they play shuttlecocks, a national past-time. the low tables and chairs are like those we used to have in the tuckshops. students sit close to one another and the class size goes as high as fifty. cheating during tests is common. it often wonders me how teachers managed to discipline students in such huge classes.

as i learnt from my students, talking is strictly not allowed in class. (that's properly why they loved to talk in my class.) teachers sometimes forbid them to ask questions and they need to pick up independent learning skills of which they figure out everything the teachers taught. they do not have tutorial classes in high school where tutors clarify their doubts. most schools do not prepare them for university entrance exams, so they go for tuition classes to prepare them for that. students at my centre go to school in the morning, tuition classes in the afternoon, and then to my centre in the evening. as such, students have little time to play.