Women

She once failed almost every subject and hated school – now she’s the teacher who fights for every student

Raja Shahridah Raja Suhaini grew up poor, could not read in Primary 1 and failed almost every subject. Now a Caring Teacher Award 2026 winner, she knocks on the doors of students who skip school – even when those doors are slammed in her face.

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“I hated school.” This was one of the first things Raja Shahridah Raja Suhaini told me, shortly after being named one of four National Level winners at the National Institute of Education’s Caring Teacher Awards 2026.

It is rare to hear a teacher admit this with such startling candour.

But the 35-year-old, known to her students at Beatty Secondary School as Ms Shah, was dealt very different cards from most.

Her father was incarcerated for the first five years of her life for drug use. And after his release, he joined her mother as a cleaner.

The family lived in a one-room rental flat, worrying about basic survival needs, such as what to eat the next day. Shahridah’s parents could not afford to take care of her two younger sisters and had to give them away to relatives.

Shahridah did not go to kindergarten. She spent her childhood trailing her parents to work.

“I was that young kid running around Takashimaya without shoes while my parents were cleaning the area. Sometimes, I helped sweep the floor,” she told CNA Women.

Her parents mainly spoke Malay, so when she went to Primary 1, Shahridah could not speak much English. She also could not read.

“I was scared most of the time. I didn’t understand what my teachers were saying. My teacher would take out this big book and make us read out loud in front of our friends. I always cried,” she recalled.

Right up to Primary 4, she failed every subject except Malay. She became rebellious and stopped caring, spending her time catching tadpoles in the school’s fishpond.

Today, the woman who once hated school is a teacher who goes from house to house knocking on the doors of pupils who skip school, inviting them back to class.

“There are times when I visited their house and it brings me back to when I was young,” Shahridah said.

THE TEACHER WHO NEVER WANTED TO BE ONE

When she was a child, Shahridah’s parents fought for every opportunity for her. On weekends, they would rent shows such as Mr Bean and RoboCop, deciphering the spoken English and subtitles together.

On their day off, they would take her to the library and have her read out loud. Librarians and other adults would correct her reading, and her parents would thank them for it.

By Primary 2, Shahridah could read.

Her parents would also take her to McDonald’s to do her homework. Whenever she encountered a difficult question, they would approach random strangers for help.

“Imagine walking up to someone and telling them you are not able to teach your own child,” Shahridah reflected.

Witnessing her parents’ hardship and sacrifices, Shahridah was determined to study hard to forge a way out of poverty for her family. From Primary 5, she started to score.

She went to Temasek Polytechnic to study Consumer Science and Technology and even won a gold medal for her academic performance.

After graduating, she received two job offers – one to be a Central Narcotics Bureau officer and the other, to be a Food and Consumer Education (FCE) teacher. It was her mother who decided for her.

Shahridah ended up teaching at Balestier Hill Secondary School, which later merged with Beatty Secondary School.

“Where I came from, you don’t have many choices. A lot of things get thrown to you. You just learn to like it. You do it and you do it well,” she said.

Teaching, however, turned out to be much more for Shahridah.

WHEN COOKING BECOMES CONNECTION

Shahridah teaches FCE to lower secondary students, and Nutrition and Food Science to upper secondary pupils, covering topics such as healthy food choices and practical cooking skills.

She gets her students to make trending pasar malam foods such as Ramly burgers, ice cream, and kunafah, a traditional Arab dessert.

“No other lessons will allow you to eat as you listen to the teacher,” she laughed.

Shahridah even bursts into Disney songs such as Let It Go and Can You Feel The Love Tonight while cooking – a quirk that endears her to students.

Many of them come to her with things they would tell no one else.

A girl with special educational needs who grew up without a mother came to Shahridah when she had her first period and did not know how to wear a sanitary napkin. Shahridah showed her how.

Another student who was living with a relative after his parents died also came to Shahridah. For three months, he waited outside the staff room after school to ask her how her day was.

“It felt like he wanted to say something and was holding back. But I did not expect it to be abuse. He was a very jovial boy,” she reflected.

“One day, I nudged him and asked, ‘What is it you want to tell me?’” That was when he told her he and his siblings were being physically abused.

Shahridah worked with the school and relevant agencies to move the boy and his siblings to a safer environment, although they had to be separated.

The boy is now 18, about to enter polytechnic, and currently working to earn money. “His siblings are all he has. He told me that he’s going to get a house so they can be together again. I’m proud of him,” Shahridah said.

STEAK, PRAWNS AND HEART-TO-HEARTS

Eight years ago, Shahridah joined the school disciplinary team, mediating issues such as fighting and bullying.

But she did not stop at discipline. Four years later, she initiated a weekly Cooking Sense Series for high-risk kids and those with special needs who skipped school.

Her unconventional solution: Invite them for a fancy meal.

Most of these kids come from vulnerable families and have never tried such food. With the support of her school, Shahridah bought ingredients like steak and juicy prawns, and invited the students to cook and eat together.

The idea was to entice them to come to school for at least one day every week, even if they weren’t going to show up for the rest of the week, she reasoned.

Every Wednesday at 2.30pm, 15 to 20 students with issues such as anger management, oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism would gather.

With such a diverse mix, these sessions are always “interesting and colourful”. One boy even burst out into Chinese opera while cooking, said Shahridah.

Shahridah taught them how to clean fish and chop up a whole chicken. Together, they made viral items – cloud bread and Dalgona coffee adapted to use Milo instead.

And somehow, these high-risk kids who never wanted to come to school in the first place would stay till 5.30pm or 6pm, talking about their day-to-day worries and the siblings they had to care for, over the meal they prepped.

“It has become like a help group,” said Shahridah, who has been running the programme for the past four years. “They realise we are all in the same boat. People here can relate to them. They feel safe.”

And though these students still did not attend school regularly, some of them showed up for their examinations and completed their secondary school journey, she said.

FIGHTING FOR EVERY STUDENT

Sometimes, even a juicy steak cannot persuade a student to return to school. So Shahridah goes to their house looking for them.

Not everyone wants to be helped, and she often gets turned away. But she keeps trying.

“At least they know someone is out there looking for them,” she said. “It’s also a reminder to their parents: If they neglect their child or if something is wrong with their child, there will be people looking out for their child.”

Once when visiting a girl who ran away from home, skipped school and stayed with her older boyfriend, Shahridah was confronted and shoved by the angry boyfriend.

The silver lining: The girl eventually returned to school to seek help when her boyfriend got too aggressive.

Shahridah hopes others can see these kids the way she does. Many come from vulnerable families and have many unmet needs, such as food insecurity, she said.

She too, once struggled with such issues – showering in candlelight because her family could not pay the electricity bill and sharing an interim flat with another family because they could not afford their own home.

Shahridah, who is single, has since bought her own flat and now supports her retired parents.

That is her hope for her students who come from vulnerable backgrounds too.

“After they (leave secondary school), if they are able to take care of themselves, and are good people, that is enough. That inspires me,” she said.

She has seen this happy outcome for many of her students, some of whom return to visit after many years.

“That’s the best Teachers’ Day gift I will ever receive,” she reflected. “I don’t want any flowers. They will wilt. I don’t want any candy. They will just make me fat. Just come back and say hi.”

CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.

Source: CNA/pc

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