Dealing with the contracts

One scope of my job now is o monitor the contracts in the schools such as the cleaning services, safety services and food services. The contracts involve all the schools in Perlis and monitoring the service from the perspective of JPN is different from the view of a school.

When I was a teacher before, I found that these matters were not really my concern and my focus were mainly on the teaching and learning. Now, I have started to learn deeper and betterr how things work in school and the department as a whole.

Today, I went for a visit to a school, focusing my visit on the cleaning service provide by a company that has won a tender. It is different for me to view the school as a whole and looking at the other side of it as I mentioned before. I did not go into the classrooms to view the teaching and learning but this time I went to every corner of the school to see the level of cleanliness and the work done by the service provider accordingly to the contract that they have agreed.

I learnt that in order for a school to move forward and develop, we need to consider all the aspects. Yes, the teaching and learning is important, but so is the physical environment of the school. The part people can sometimes ignore but actually its impact can be big, and detrimental if we decide to put it aside.

Can you imagine if your school is not well kept and the weeds wild grass grow up like a jungle and no one cares. How is that suitable for students to learn and absorb knowledge?

Having the experience of monitoring the contract, I think it taught me some new skills of dealing with the contractors, dealing with the leaders of the school as well as dealing with the workers of the service provider. I am not yet well equipped with all of the skills and knowledge, but U have started to learn a lot.

PS: Sometimes easy sometimes hard - keep going!