KOTA KINABALU: For 12-year-old Joseph Chang of SK Sri Gaya, the emotional support from his parents proved to be the most important ‘success tool’ which enabled him to score 5As in his Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR).
“They never pressured me to do more than what I’m capable of but encouraged me to do my best instead. This way they taught me that even if I don’t score all As, I have nothing to regret because I already gave it my best,” said the eldest of five siblings.
Having given his best when sitting for all five subjects, he found it to be inconvenient and demotivating having to re-sit for three of the subjects, namely English, Mathematics and Science. But he decided that there is another way to look at it.
“At first I was crestfallen because I studied so hard. But then I thought, maybe it’s a way I could do better as I look at it as a second chance. Nevertheless, it doesn’t change the fact that it caused inconvenience to the students as such incidents (the leak) can cause motivation lapse. I believe many would have been able to achieve 5As if it weren’t for the leak,” said the lad who aspires to be a footballer or a writer.
Joseph’s mother, Charmaine Andrea Wong, 44, on the other hand credited Joseph’s achievement to his own efforts and motivation.
“He had always been self-motivated because we had always taught our children to be independent. They tell us what they need or what they would like to use (for studying) and we will provide the materials.
“This is because I want my children to become life-long learners, whereby they are inspired to learn instead of being pressured to study. I’m proud of Joseph and hope that his achievement will inspire his younger siblings to do well in their studies,” said Charmaine.
Meanwhile, looking up to elder siblings as an inspiration to do well in UPSR happened to be the story of another 5A scorer, Nur Tasnin Atirah Faizul, also from SK Sri Gaya.
Nur Tasnin’s elder brother, Mohd Haziq Adam Faizul, who is now in Form One, had also scored 5A’s in his UPSR last year.
“My brother said to me, ‘I scored 5A’s. How will you do?’ I took that as a challenge, or rather as an inspiration to do well, and ‘alhamdulillah (thank God)’, I’m happy with my results,” said the 12-year-old girl who loves art.
Although there were no lavish promises from her parents to pressure her to do well, she regarded her struggle to perform well as an effort on her part to achieve excellent results.
She shared that she spent two to three hours of studying at home, and even used comic books as educational materials, such as the Comic M and Tenten Comic Series.
Her mother, Noredah Othman, 46, who is a senior marketing manager at Sabah Tourism Board, said big part of her children’s achievements were part of the way their father, Faizul Hassan, 53, raised and motivated them.
“Since my job required me to travel a lot, my husband spends more time with the kids. And when it comes to education, he is very strict, which had inspired the kids to be independent and self-motivated,” said Noredah.
Joseph and Nur Tasnin were two of 37 5A scorers from SK Sri Gaya, the high performance school which ranked second in the state, after SK Bombalai in Tawau, in this year’s UPSR.
SK Sri Gaya recorded the highest number of 5A -scorers in the State, 37 out of 152 candidates, and a 94.08 passing percentage, with a GPS of 1.60.