Strokes from a Sekolah Rakyat classroom guard dreams towards the heart of Thailand

Not all classrooms produce champions through the numbers on a report card. There are classrooms that quietly become the birthplace of dreams, when a teacher discovers a talent that even the pupil has not yet recognised.

In one of the learning rooms at Sekolah Rakyat Menengah Atas I Aceh Besar, Sentra Darussa’adah, an English teacher named Rizki Hawalaina saw something different in a student who bowed her head more often than she raised her hand.

That student is Syafika Naila. Behind her shy nature, Rizki discovered two shining potentials: her English language skills and her drawing talent.

‘Syafika rarely appears in public, but I saw that her English and drawing abilities were very prominent,’ Rizki told ANTARA on Thursday (25/6).

That talent was not left to lie dormant. Together with another student, Nur Salsabila, Syafika was guided to combine illustrations and story into an English-language comic titled ‘Little Friend in The Evening Park’.

Rizki oversaw every process of making the comic, from developing the storyline to perfecting each illustration so that the images and narrative spoke the same language.

Now, the comic about two friends reunited after a long separation is still awaiting the publishing process. However, for Rizki, its greatest value is not merely a book that will one day appear on a library shelf or in a bookshop, but the courage of two children from humble families to believe that their work is worthy of being read by many people.

What is most impressive, Rizki said, is not just the final result.

‘Every day they were willing to discuss, ask questions, and accept feedback. They always wanted to improve their work to make it better.’

During the year she mentored Syafika, she witnessed a change that went far beyond drawing skills. A child who was once reluctant to speak slowly learned to believe in herself.