UPPER SIXTH-FORMER ALVIN DONIUS, 18, HAS WALKED THE SAME FIVE-KILOMETRE TRAIL ALMOST EVERY SCHOOL DAY OVER THE LAST 13 YEARS.

Schoolchildren in remote area face obstacle with positive spirit

Children walking to school from Kampung Mantaranau, Kiulu in Kota Kinabalu. Pic by Zunnur Al Shafiq

KOTA KINABALU: The lively sound of children chatting filled the air on the dark trail in Kampung Mantaranau in Kiulu at dawn yesterday.

It was the first day of school and many of them were catching up with tales of the long holiday and the anticipation of meeting up with other friends.

About 40 of them walk the route every day to either the SK Pekan Kiulu primary school or the SM Tun Fuad Stephens secondary school.

They start from as early as 5.45am, go across two suspension bridges, two bamboo bridges, private lands planted with rubber, fruits and rice fields, a secondary forest and a few hills to reach the township.

Upper Sixth-former Alvin Donius, 18, has walked the same five-kilometre trail almost every school day over the last 13 years.

He admitted that he may miss it once he finishes his schooling  this year.

Wearing a singlet with his trousers pulled to his knee, to avoid it from getting dirty in the muddy trail, the  wiry Kadazandusun said despite the daily hour-long walk, he enjoys going to school.

Only in the last kilometre to school he would clean himself.  put on his shirt and walk across a suspension bridge that links to the township.

"I am used to this and going to school allows me to look forward to something," said Alvin, who once aspired to join the uniformed forces, either army or police, but changed his mind after getting into Form Six.

If there were school activities, they would stay on until late in the afternoon before returning home.  Otherwise, they hit the trail immediately after class ended, said Alvin.

"The walk home would be tiring and most of the time I would sleep first and do my studies at night.

"It would also be hard when it rains because the trail would be slippery, cold and it may even damage our books."

Villager Suan Kimin, 46, said there were some 50 houses and 300 people, mostly rubber tappers and subsistence farmers in the village which is reachable through a dirt road via Tamparuli.

To reach the Kiulu township, it takes about 90 minutes using four-wheel-drive vehicles during dry weather.

"That is why many children from here walk to school and the secondary schools do give priority to those from remote areas, including Mantaranau, to take up slots at the hostel.

"Very few take it up," he said.

Siblings Jonathan, 8, Tera, 11, and Christianus Lukas, 12, who walk together to school, keep a steady  pace on the trail as class starts at 7.20am and make sure they can see each other at all times.

Christianus, as the eldest,  would walk behind Jonathan and Tera and make sure they do not go off the trail.

Their friend, Frank Saindi, 12, said Christianus was his classmate and they would always walk with each other.

"If it rains we have plastic bags to cover our books," he said, adding that not all of them have raincoats.

"We sometimes take shelter at the 'sulaps'," he said, referring to two huts built by villagers along the route.

Mother, Hilda Ninggilon, 29, said most parents would normally accompany their children on the first day of school when they start primary one.

"On other days we either rely on the older children of relatives, neighbours or friends to look after them.

"It has been that way even when I was in school," said Hilda who finished secondary school as a fifth former in 1999.

Photographer Ruslan Lusi, who walked the trail to take photographs of the children going to school, said he knew of many villagers  from Mantaranau who made it good.

"I think this daily routine of walking to school has made them determined individuals," he said and pointed out there were doctors, teachers, architects and senior civil servants who originated from the village.