Sheikh Mujibur Rahim Sheikh Abdul Razak manning his father’s fruit stall at the Ramadan Bazaar in Kuala Ibai, Kuala Terengganu.

KUALA TERENGGANU: His Ujian Pencapaian  Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination is about a week away but  duty comes first  for Sheikh Mujibur Rahim Sheikh Abdul Razak at a Ramadan bazaar in Kuala Ibai near here yesterday.

The 12-year-old student at Sekolah Kebangsaan Pusat Kuala Ibai said it was not that he did not want to stay home and study, but he knew that his father's fruit stall at the bazaar would be packed with customers from late  afternoon until breaking fast time.

In fact, the serious-looking lad said manning the stall was a good way to practise his arithmetic skills  as he claimed there was no better way to learn addition, subtraction, division and multiplication than by handling real money.

"There's little room for error here as I will get  scolded by  customers if I give them the  wrong change.

"Also,  my father  will get mad at me when he finds out the amount of fruits sold does not tally with the money received." 

The youngest of three children, Sheikh Mujibur said   his father, who mows lawns for a living, often had to run errands in the afternoon.

He felt it was his responsibility to help out at the stall for a few hours each day during the fasting month as  he had done the previous year.

"It is not like I play truant  or something.

 "I still have to study  for a few hours after breaking my fast,"  said Sheikh Mujibur who admitted he did not fare too well in his trial examination as  he only managed to score a pass in three subjects out of five.

However, he said although he probably could not do much within a week to prepare for the UPSR examination, he thought  he would do better in the test proper compared with the trials.

"But at the moment, I am only  interested in selling  watermelons and pineapples to the  hungry and thirsty customers."