SPA 2.0 – Sowing Seeds of Silaturrahim

Student, parents, and teachers come together to green up tinta

Video credit – Iffat

Zara Aaliyah
29 September 2023

SHAH ALAM: On September 30th, the School-Parent Connection (SPC) organised the second Student Parent Activity (SPA), for the year. This time, Tinta students, teachers, and parents worked together to make our school a greener place.

The SPA has been a Tinta tradition since the very beginning, and after 6 years, it is still going strong. The programme involves students, parents, and teachers collaborating on and conducting an activity together that is fun and educational. The objectives are simple – to promote parental involvement in student learning, share educational resources, and create a supportive community within Tinta.

This round, and for the very first time, the SPA was organised by the SPC committee and themed ‘Parent-Student Growers.’ The goal: To beautify the school compound with more greenery, and best of all, with herbs and vegetables that the school and its students can actually consume. Sekolah Tinta principal, Dr. Haliza Idris, said, “We hope that we can nurture positive bonding with parents, teachers, and the kids, and hopefully we can have a very nice school compound that contributes to our outdoor activities.”

“We hope that we can nurture positive bonding with parents, teachers, and the kids, and hopefully we can have a very nice school compound that contributes to our outdoor activities.”
Dr. Haliza Idris

The program began at approximately 9am with three main activities: the setup of the raised garden beds at the Laman Tinta area, a vegetable showcase at the Dewan Eksplorasi, culminating later in a planting session together outdoors.

Students were split into groups, with the Year 6 and secondary students assisting their parents to set up the raised beds. This involved the assembly of 5 galvanised steel Grow-Tongs and 4 sets of concrete Grow-Slabs that were purchased using funds contributed by generous Tinta parents. The tongs were then filled with soil and mulch in preparation for the young plants and seedlings.

Upstairs, more parents helmed booths designed to teach Year 1 to Year 5 students about the various types of vegetables they would be planting. The nine booths, covering tomatoes, cucumbers, kangkung, okra, brinjal, chillies, basil, lettuce, and Brazilian spinach, were the creative work of parents, some of whom even prepared food samples and informative posters. The students learned about the benefits of the vegetables, as well as their numerous uses.

Following a quick breakfast, contributed by both the school and parents, everyone gathered at the Laman Tinta area to begin planting. The SPA 2.0 then came to a close with the official handover of Laman Tinta from the SPC to the Teacher Advisor of the Tinta Ecoteers, Teacher Eira.

The happy result of all the hard work from everyone involved? 9 raised beds that we hope will soon reward students with nutritious herbs and vegetables!