There are approximately 1.52 billion people worldwide who speak English, and Muhammad Aliff Hakimi bin Mohd Nizam, an MA in TESOL Studies student, is a part of that billion. But a couple of years back, you could say he wasn’t really a part of the list.
Born and raised in Alor Setar, Aliff’s childhood was far from comfortable.
“I’m not from a rich family,” he shares. “I had no access to a proper education, let alone an international education. And because of this, I had a very poor command of the English language.”
Aliff’s level of the English language was so poor that even his friends would judge the way he spoke it, one even calling it “cancerous” to listen to.
For his SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, an equivalent to the GCSEs) trials, he performed poorly. It was then that one Mrs. Maznah, his English teacher, decided to step in.
“She’s a prominent figure in my journey to learning the English language,” Aliff says. “Mrs. Maznah dedicated her time to offering me extra classes after school to make sure I pass my SPM.”
Other than the Chevening Scholarship, Aliff has been awarded the Tunku Scholars 2022 and Dean’s List Awards for four semesters. Source: Muhammad Aliff Hakimi bin Mohd Nizam
A former security guard turned TESOL student
Many would have given up when but for Aliff, it fueled a fire in him.
For his SPM, Aliff achieved an A minus for his English exam and a newfound love for the language that he decided to become an English teacher.
“Mrs. Maznah told me that in the future, I could be a better teacher than her to teach other individuals who don’t have a good command of the English language,” Aliff laughs. “That’s the trajectory that helped me achieve my purpose.”
However, his financial standing caught up with him. After completing his SPM, Aliff had to work as a security guard at two local hospitals.
Security guards are often looked down upon in Malaysia due to the job being viewed as a “low-paying”, “dirty”, and “uneducated”.
Security guards are one of the lowest-paid individuals in Malaysia, alongside dishwashers, forklift operators, domestic helpers, and customer service executives. But for Aliff, it was a way to earn enough money before pursuing his diploma, as well as to gain some work experience.
“It’s not a famous part-time job among youths as security guards are associated with individuals who don’t want to study,” he explains. “That’s the kind of public sentiment of the job.”
In 2019, Aliff pursued a Diploma of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language at Kolej University Poly-Tech MARA.
Two years later, in 2021, he moved on to a BA in English Language Studies, English Language and Literature at the National University of Malaysia.
It was then that he learnt about the Chevening Scholarship.
“I was actually planning on applying to the University of Melbourne; however, there was a lack of scholarships available,” Aliff shares. “I actually got rejected by some. So, I just decided to apply for Chevening.”
Aliff and his mum during the Chevening Scholarship award ceremony. Source: Muhammad Aliff Hakimi bin Mohd Nizam
A WhatsApp status and a mum’s love sparked a fire in him
The way Aliff found out about the Chevening Scholarship was through a WhatsApp status.
“I participated in a programme organised by politician Edry Faizal,” he recalls. “And they often share available scholarships through their WhatsApp status, and it just so happened that they shared a post about Chevening.”
It went along the lines of “Do you want to study a fully-funded Master’s in the UK?” Aliff took a screenshot of it and started doing his research.
“I found out that the scholarship has been going on for 40 years, globally at least, and that itself inspired me to apply,” he shares.
The rest was history.
Aliff is the first person in his family to win a prestigious scholarship to study abroad. And amazing as it is, there’s one person who holds his achievement extremely close to their heart — his mum.
“She was sad to see how I had to support myself for my own studies, and she said that she thinks she failed as a mum,” Aliff shares. “And when I got the scholarship, she said that I gave her the best birthday ever. She even cried at the ceremony because she was so proud of me.”
Aliff is one of the 34 Malaysian scholars who will be pursuing one-year master’s programmes across the UK for the 2025/26 academic year.
Through his MA in TESOL Studies, Aliff hopes to develop a comprehensive understanding of the English language, how it is learned, and how it can be taught effectively across diverse contexts. Source: Muhammad Aliff Hakimi bin Mohd Nizam
This MA in TESOL Studies student is here to make the English language more accessible in rural Malaysia
Today, Aliff is pursuing his MA in TESOL Studies at the University of Leeds as a Chevening Scholar, and he’s there with a goal in mind — to make Malaysia the leading educational hub in the region, as well as make the English language as inclusive as possible.
However, his long-term goal is to sit with the Ministry of Education to reform the English education system.
“I want to become a lecturer; however, if I were to implement change as one, it would only be to a classroom of 30 to 40 students,” Aliff shares. “I want to improve the country as a whole. That’s my vision.”
When it comes to the English education system in Malaysia, Aliff believes that accessibility is an issue and that we can’t compare the level of English of students across the country.
“We can’t compare a student in Kuala Lumpur (KL) to a student in rural Sarawak,” he explains. “They have two different types of access. In KL, there’s easy access to the internet and libraries, and even your parents will help you with school things. However, in rural Sarawak, the internet isn’t always there, and parents would ask their children to work instead of study.”
Aliff also believes that the English language education needs to be inclusive.
“They need to create a variety of class material for each level of proficiency,” he shares. “When I was in primary school, it was really hard to catch up with peers who had a better proficiency in the language.”
Aliff is set to graduate in September 2026 and will return to Malaysia to work as part of his scholarship.
