Koh showing the certificate he received for SMKP recently.
MIRI: The principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pujut (SMKP) received the ‘Anugerah Tawaran Baharu Kepada Pengetua dan Gurubesar’ at a ceremony in Putrajaya recently.
SMKP principal Koh Chee Kiat said it was the first time SMKP was evaluated and he was overwhelmed by emotion when he received the award.
‘Tawaran Baharu’ is an initiative under the Education Ministry’s National Key Results Area (NKRA) to reward principals and headmasters based on the Performance Based Assessment.
Principals and headmasters who have shown excellent achievements beyond their set target will be rewarded while those who do not achieve the targets set are required to attend a Performance Development Programme which is relevant to their needs and is handled by Aminuddin Baki Institute.
“This award is part of the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2013-2025 to encourage leaders to transform the schools.
“The ministry evaluates the schools based on two issues, namely through the School Average Grade (GPS) and Malaysia Education Quality Standards (SKPM),” he said when met recently.
According to Koh, the school GPS carries 70 per cent of the score and SMKP managed to obtain GPS 5.56 in 2015 compared to 5.98 in 2014.
“SKPM, which carries 30 per cent of the score, is assessed based on internal audit which includes leadership, co-curriculum, curriculum, student behaviour and the teaching itself,” he said.
When asked about the changes he had made for SMKP, Koh said changes were made by observing things that could make an impact.
“The first thing I did after being a principal here in 2013 was to upgrade the learning facilities into comfortable classrooms and special rooms for seminars and so on.
“Secondly, I introduced extra night classes to give students the opportunity to sit for an intensive study with their own choice of teachers and it is the additional classes in the evening that have had a huge impact when the group of students who pioneered the programme managed to get excellent results in their exam,” he said.
He added that student’s discipline was also heightened and this could be seen in the lower cases of disciplinary problems in school.
Koh hopes SMKP will maintain this excellence and will further improve its performance through commitment by teachers and students.
Meanwhile, the award was also given to two other schools in Sarawak, which are Sekolah Menengah Sains Kuching Utara and SMK Limbang.