KOTA KINABALU: It was a showcase of a variety of expressions, some comical, as students awaited and anticipated the release of their Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) results yesterday.
At Kota Kinabalu High School (KKHS), a boy was seen covering his face with his hands as a teacher handed him the result slip; another pumped his fist into the air as he realised he obtained 4As, possibly a better result he expected; while another boy sprinted across the school hall and out, yelling all the way, turned around and gave his best friend a hug before lying flat on the floor.
Wong Zhing Jieh, 15, certainly has a reason to celebrate as he not only obtained 8A’s in his PMR, he was also accepted and offered a four-year scholarship into Anglo Chinese School, an independent high school in Singapore.
He will be leaving for Singapore next week, after Christmas, to pursue his third year of high school, O-level and A-level in the country.
Wong came across the entry examination for the school and took the examination out of interest.
While he will miss his friends here, Wong anticipates the new experience, new life and independence that he will face soon.
“The standard (of education) there should be higher, my parents also encouraged me to go to Singapore.
“I will have to leave home sooner or later anyway (for furthering his studies), and leaving at the age of 15 is okay for me.”
Wong said the experience will also make him more independent and cease the need to be taken care of by his parents.
His parents will be accompanying him to Singapore for a week before leaving him to stay at the hostel provided by the school.
Wong, the youngest child among his three elder sisters and one elder brother, hoped he would have a good sense of direction when he arrived in Singapore, as he said the road system was more complex in that country.
Meanwhile, his father Wong Phong Yun, 57, believed that his son could be independent and cope with his studies in Singapore.
“He has always been a hardworking student, play and study hard.”
He denied that sending his son to Singapore was because the education system is better in that country, as Malaysia has also produced many outstanding students.
“The security is better in Singapore, I’ll worry more if he is in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
He added that the living cost for his son would be around SGD1,400 a month in Singapore.
On the other hand, Chang Tze Shean, a head prefect, did not expect to get straight 8A’s at all in the PMR.
“This is because I got 5A’s in the school’s trial examination, and got 3A’s in the previous trial examination.”
It was certainly a relief for Chang, who walked to the school from his house at Taman Cantek, which is within close proximity, to get the results at school.
“I was worried that my results might be bad, and it would be awkward in the car (with my parents).”
Everyone has different studying methods, Chang said, and his is constantly doing exercises and studying at the same time.
Chang plans to enter the arts stream, as he is more interested in accountancy than Science.
Marianne Wong does not let karate stop her from scoring 8A’s in the PMR.
Marianne now possesses a brown belt in karate, and has two more levels to go before achieving her black belt.
She won the bronze medal in the inter-school karate competition in February and April this year respectively, and will be taking part in the Karate International Championship in December 22-23.
Marianne spends her weekends in karate training and uses other times to study.
“I want to become a cardiologist. I have become very interested in (human) heart since learning about it in Form 3,” she said.
A total of 334 students took the PMR at Kota Kinabalu High School. Among them, 22 students obtained straight A’s while 84 students obtained 5A’s and above.
Meanwhile, SM La Salle recorded an improvement in Grade Point Average (GPA) compared to the year before.
This year, SM La Salle scored 78 per cent passing rate with a GPA of 2.71. A total of 18 students obtained straight A’s, including four 8A’s students and 14 students with 7A’s.
Last year, the passing rate of the school was 83.33 per cent with a GPA of 2.73, while in 2010, the passing rate was 78 per cent with a GPA of 2.71.
At SM All Saints, principal Tiong Ai Ping said the passing rate of the school was 90.85 per cent.
A total of 284 students took the PMR examination at SM All Saints and 258 students passed all subjects.
Tiong said the GPA of the school was down 0.02 per cent from 2.18 last year to 2.20 this year.
This year, the school has 37 students who scored straight A’s, a drop of 11 students from 48 students last year.