Imtiaz, School Of Excellence (students only, the management sucks)

Imtiaz lalala!

Imtiaz; School Of Excellence. A secondary school well known for its academic and curricular success. Based on visions of a Quranic, Encyclopaedic & Ijtihadic approach, the students are the cream of the crop... being sculptured into good Muslims excelling in all fields. Its history is coloured with politics, but it survived as an institution since it's policies has proven to be brilliant. The new Terengganu MB should realise this and continue to support this institution, not reduce the budget/allocation just because it was deemed a brainchild of the previous MB.

There are 4 schools in total, Besut, Kuala Berang, Dungun & KT(KOSPINT). All four are under the governance of Integrity Icon (ii) Sdn Bhd, who on the other hand are under Yayasan Terengganu. The reason for ii's existance was for the benefit of the teachers... but in the end since the Ministry is taking over, the effort seems futile.

Earlier this year there was a write up in Harakah about Imtiaz, saying it was a waste of money and in a sense the degree of success is equavalent to other schools with lesser attention. Also mentioned was the lousy management. I beg to differ with that writer. She failed to see that in the long run, its the product of Imtiaz which counts, not just the mere reflection of academic success. Other schools may have equal academic excellance, but do they produce hafizs & hafizahs, who have good learning skills,personality of a good muslim and exquisite leadership qualities? I sincerely doubt any other school has a better annual program or series of programs aimed at increasing skills relevant for both learning & personality development and skills relevant in preperation for university life. Most of the products are pureblooded Anak Terengganu, Imtiaz will surely benefit the state in the long run.

What i do agree is, they have lousy management, paticularly ii. Last minute programs, sudden reschedules, meetings out of nowhere... are all marks of a typical Integrity Icon doing. Up to the level where its staff have accepted Integrity Icon as a No-Integrity Icon. Biases also occur, for example claims by immediate staff of ii are cleared almost instantaneously, while claims by teachers take (relatively) ages to get through. Ustaz Wan, despite having headed ii for a few years, still fails to show the level of professionalism that should resound from the name Integrity Icon. His leadership should reflect to his underlings, and it does, but in a negative way. Being a young CEO, he should have been able to learn from mistakes and be transparent in hearing advice from fellow workers, especially older and more seasoned ones. Then again, being in a politically elected position does not give much room for flexibility. In the end, it runs exactly like a typical Malay political party, not like an institution of excellence. One thing Malays still fail to realise is that the academia, should not be politically run. I recommend replacing strategic positions in ii and give room for improvement by quality personel.

Lets compare a few Imtiaz's. Dungun unexpectedly is one of the best managed and has a worker satisfaction level unseen in other Imtiazs. I understand some teachers and staff actually travel back and forth from distant places such as Kuala Berang! It does make one think WHY do these staff show such loyalty, even when offered to transfer to nearer branches. The logical answer would be good governance, an environment conducive for work and a performance based management. This team if given the helm of ii should be able to bring about change.

KOSPINT... being in Kuala Terengganu (Serada) is considered the main Imtiaz. Possibly with the largest number of students and staff. I got news that KOSPINT is under a dual staff system, one from ii another from... cant remember. Forget about that. What i want to highlight is its lack of modern facilities. It has a lousy computer system and internet access. I heard that there were a bunch of PC's unable to be used due to software problems? It costed a bunch, but now lies usesless rotting somewhere, only two of the many had internet access. I wonder what the technical staff are doing. Software problems can normally be overcome, if the programmer is good in cracking programs & language. Internet access? Lousy. They can't maintain a good connection due to..??? I cant imagine what excuse the technician would give. I problem solve TM's connection at home by myself. It isn't that hard... and its especially NOT DIFFICULT for a qualified technician PAID to solve these problems. I wonder what Mak Cik Mardziah is doing, i bet she cant even flush the DNS of the schools modem.

All in all, if one reads Imtiaz's Ulul Albab program, its vision and mission... one would believe that the Management of the Imtiaz Schools and Integrity Icon should implement it on themselves first, before even thinking of educating the students. Currently they are trying to implement something which they themselves do not practise nor believe, and worse... show the exact opposite. Don't be hypocrites and embarres the State Government by emitting the wrong message to the general public. I strongly advise the Terengganu MB to be a little proactive and be more involved in Imtiaz's development. Imtiaz will churn out future professionals with an Islamic core, undoubtly what the current Government of the day lack. Reshuffle the management if deemed necessary and put qualified experienced persons who will deliver. Imtiaz is indirectly under Yayasan, there should be something the Terengganu MB could do.