Slight drop in Sabah UPSR results

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From left: Nur Shakierah, Nur Anis and Nurul Izzah.

SEMPORNA: A total of 20,403 or 45.03 per cent of the 45,305 candidates in this year’s Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) obtained at least Grade C in all subjects.

Announcing the results at SK Kabogan here yesterday, Sabah Education Department director Dr Haji Muhiddin Bin Yusin said that by comparison, 20,741 or 47.36 per cent of the 43,798 candidates in the 2010 UPSR had obtained at least Grade C.

Muhiddin said although the state-level School Average Grade (GPS) Achievement dropped 0.03 per cent, the number of candidates who obtained Grade D and E in all subjects declined to 6.91 per cent from 7.88 per cent in 2010.

He said the department had targeted a higher percentage of Grade A achievers for this year, but failed with only a total of 1,018 candidates scoring straight A (5A’s).

Of the total, 859 of the higher achievers were from Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) and 159 candidates from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC).

By comparison, 1,190 candidates in 2010 scored straight A – comprising 995 candidates from Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) and 195 candidates from Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC).

Muhiddin said this meant that there was a drop of 0.49 per cent or 172 candidates this year from the 2010 in terms of straight A achievers.

He said 1,225 candidates in the state obtained 4As and 1B this year, and that many more candidates nearly scored 5A’s compared to the previous year.

“For SK category, the percentage of candidates obtaining at least Grade C slightly increased for Bahasa Melayu-Comprehension at 88.30 per cent, Bahasa Melayu-Composition at 75.09 per cent and Mathematics at 69.86 per cent.

“The percentage of candidates with at least Grade C slightly declined for English at 52.63 per cent and Science at 72.83 per cent compared to 2010.

“For SJKC category, the percentage of candidates with at least Grade C slightly increased for Bahasa Melayu-Composition at 96.15 per cent, Bahasa Melayu-Comprehension at 85.32 per cent, Mathematics at 91.64 per cent and Bahasa Cina-Comprehension at 71 per cent.

“The is a drastic drop in the percentage of candidates obtaining at least Grade C for Science to 83.52 per cent from 90.44 in 2010,” Muhiddin said.

According to him, the shortage of English, Science and Mathematics teachers at schools throughout the state could be one of factors for the drop in the percentage of passes for English and Science.

Therefore, Muhiddin said his department would continue to carry out a post-mortem and solution to the problem by getting more teachers to serve in schools.

Besides giving training to teachers, the department will plan to hold extra teaching as well as to prepare more teaching materials for students.

He said the Education Ministry and schools were working hard in improving the academic results of the schoolchildren throughout the state.

They are educating and guiding the pupils right from Primary One until Primary Six, hoping that they can achieve excellent results in UPSR.

Muhiddin was satisfied with the hard work of all the parties concerned and he hoped more upgrading and improvement could be made from time to time.

He hoped everyone could have positive behaviors and manners in their lifestyles.

According to Muhiddin, the Education Ministry did not face any challenges in handling the UPSR results for this year.

The announcement of the UPSR results in Semporna was the first this year to motivate the schools especially those in the rural areas to work harder.

Meanwhile, the top-ten SK schools with excellent UPSR results were SK Sri Gaya Kota Kinabalu, SK St. Francis Convent (M) Kota Kinabalu, SK St. Monica Sandakan, SK St Patrick Tawau, SK Mutiara Kota Kinabalu, SK St. Agnes Kota Kinabalu, SK Bahagia Tawau, SK Kolombong Kota Kinabalu, SK Tanjung Aru II Kota Kinabalu as well as SK Stella Maris Kota Kinabalu.

The top-eight SJKC schools were SJKC St James Kota Kinabalu, SJKC Shan Tao Kota Kinabalu, SJKC Lok Yuk Likas Kota Kinabalu, SJKC Chung Hwa Kg Air Kota Kinabalu, SJKC Sin Hwa Tawau, SJKC Chung Hwa Likas Kota Kinabalu, SJKC Yuk Chin Tawau as well as SJKC Yue Min Penampang.

In Semporna, seven pupils scored straight 5A’s, including three from SK Kabogan – Nur Shakierah Binti Mad Shih, Nurul Izzah Hasni Binti Abd Hassan and Nur Anis Sofiah Binti M. Rahim.

The trio’s parents are also teachers in Semporna.

Twenty-five candidates in Semporna district scored 4As and 1B.

Nur Shakierah, who is the third child among five siblings in the family, was happy after scoring 5A’s in her UPSR which she had expected.

She studied for about one and a half hours every night and she aspires to an Ustaz. Sometimes, she also plays chess with her friends.

Nurul Izzah, who is the eldest child among four siblings, was also happy although she did not expect to score straight A’s.

She studied for one and a half hours every night and sometimes joined group discussion.

She urged pupils who will be sitting for UPSR to study hard without giving up easily.

Nurul Izzah noted that playing Facebook for half an hour everyday did not interfere with her studies. She aspires to be a doctor.

But for Nur Anis scoring straight A’s was a big surprise to her.

She hoped UPSR pupils will concentrate in class and they should not forget the good deeds of their parents and teachers.

Nur Anis, who is the second child among four siblings, hopes to become a doctor in future.

Also present at the UPSR results announcement were Sabah Education deputy director Maimunah Suhaibul and SK Kabogan headmaster Mohd Said Abd Jalil.

Meanwhile, touching on the RM100 distribution each for schoolchildren, Muhiddin said the cash distribution was still being carried out.

He hoped it would be completed by today, November 18, except for certain schools which located far away from financial institutions as it needed more processing time.

Muhiddin said the RM100 would be given out to the students in cash immediately without the need to open any bank account.