WELL-DONE: Fatimah presenting the Excellent Student Award (Pra-U 2011 & Anugerah Pengetua 2011) to Chew Choon Man in the presence of the principal, Marcus and Chew’s mother.
MIRI: Schools need to be aware that they do not exist in a vacuum, but play important roles in ensuring social wellness in the society.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said in this respect, schools must ensure a balanced development for their students.
“What happens in schools have great impact on the society. Excellence must go beyond grades and figures,” said Fatimah when officiating at the presentation of Students’ Excellent Awards 2011 for Lopeng Government Secondary School (SMK) in Miri yesterday.
Among those present were the principal of the school Marcus Raja, teachers, the school’s chairman of the Parents-Teachers Association, Catherine Ting, members of the Association and community leaders.
Fatimah was happy that
SMK Lopeng had positioned itself in the Band 4 (2009 – 2010) category of schools, based on the National Key Results Area (NKRA).
“Your academic achievements are very commendable – in terms of PMR results, you are placed in position 30 out of the 170 schools, in SPM – 33 out of the 173 secondary schools in the state and in STPM, the results increased from GPS 2.54 to
2.60.”
She believed with concerted efforts of all – principals, teachers, students and parents, SMK Lopeng could soon achieve the status of top performing school.
Among the efforts they could take were working on a systematic programme to help dyslexic students, as well as taking stock of suggestions even from student leaders on how to improve teaching and learning methods.
On the dyslexia programme for the school, Fatimah who is also the Dyslexia Association of Sarawak’s advisor assured that she will assist the school, adding that early detection and intervention was important so that dyslexic students could cope with their studies.
This included getting Professor Dr Ong Puay Hoon – Dyslexia Association of Sarawak president to visit the school
soon.