Suzanne holds up her SPM results during a photo call. From second left are Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Water Supply) Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, Dr Abdul Rahman, and Rakayah. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa
KUCHING: Sarawak fared slightly better in the 2016 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) compared to the previous year.
State Education Department director Rakayah Madon said Sarawak recorded a State Cumulative Grade (GPN) of 5.34 last year compared to 5.47 in 2015.
“This means that the achievement performance of the SPM candidates in Sarawak in 2016 in terms of GPN has improved by 0.13,” she said during the official announcement of the state-level SPM results yesterday.
A total of 36,263 candidates in Sarawak registered for SPM last year – with 32,971 candidates (90.92 per cent) from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan; 474 candidates (1.31 per cent) under other agencies; 999 (2.75 per cent) from private schools; and 1,819 (5.02 per cent) private candidates.
Rakayah said the department is proud of the overall performance of SPM candidates from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan as 83.02 per cent or 26,769 of the 32,245 candidates who sat for the exam obtained their certificates by scoring at least a pass in Bahasa Melayu and History.
The candidates in Sarawak sat for a total of 65 subjects and from that number, 29 or 48.33 per cent of subjects recorded a 100 per cent pass; 22 subjects or 36.67 per cent recorded a 90.99 per cent pass; and nine subjects or 14 per cent recorded an 80 to 89.9 per cent pass.
Based on the School Average Grade (GPS), 14 schools achieved the highest grade of less than 4.0 – SM Sains Kuching (1.72); SM Sains Miri (1.99); Kolej Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah, Kuching (2.06); Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang, Miri (2.10); SM Sains Kuching Utara (2.29); SMP Lodge, Kuching (2.31); Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, Mukah (2.70); Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, Betong (2.70); SMK St Elizabeth, Sibu (2.73); Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, Kuching (3.08); SMK Sacred Heart, Sibu (3.25); SMK Methodist, Sibu (3.32); Sekolah Menengah Swasta St Joseph, Kuching (3.34); and SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi, Kuching (3.48).
The results also showed that 23 secondary schools had at least 10 candidates scoring a minimum of A- in all the subjects they sat for.
SMK Methodist, Sibu had 45 candidates scoring at least A- in all their subjects; followed by SMK Green Road, Kuching and SMK Batu Lintang, Kuching (33); SMP Lodge, Kuching (30); SMK Kuching High, Kuching (26); and Kolej Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah, Kuching (25).
Rakayah said overall, the achievement of SPM 2016 candidates in Sarawak was encouraging with 13 scoring straight A+ in all the subjects they sat for.
“From the total number, one of them scored 11A+, six of them scored 10A+, and six of them scored 9A+ in all the subjects they sat for last year.
“The number of candidates, who scored at least A- in all their subjects is 477,” she said.
The straight 11A+ achiever is Erica Ling Kai Shi from SMK St Elizabeth, Sibu, while the straight 10A+ achievers are Benjamin Kok Sei (SMK St Joseph, Kuching), Pung Cheng Kee (SMK Batu Lintang, Kuchng), Sean Hii Jun Wei (SMK Batu Lintang, Kuching), Jordan Ku Wei Shan (SMK St Joseph, Kuching), Lavender Cheng Jia Xin (SMK Green Road, Kuching), and Joyce Hu Xin Enn (SMK St Elizabeth, Sibu).
The straight nine A+ achievers are Matteus Lim Zhen Chien (SMK Batu Lintang, Kuching), Franccy Philip (SMK Sungai Tapang, Samarahan), Jessie Chong Jia Xin (SMK Jalan Arang, Padawan), Gabriel Ngu Hieng Kai (SMK Green Road, Kuching), Muhammad Mirza Azri Dzulzalani (SMK Green Road, Kuching), and Kong Soon Hong (Kolej Tun Datu Tuanku Haji Bujang, Miri).
Rakayah said the state education department is also proud of visual disability candidate Suzzane Jelian from SMK Batu Lintang, Kuching, who scored B+ in two subjects, C+ in one subject, D in two subjects, and E in one subject.
Meanwhile, Assistant Minister for Welfare and Community Wellbeing Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail suggested all parties at all levels need to double their efforts to ensure that more SPM candidates would obtain certificates.
He also stressed that all should strive to master many languages, especially Malay, English, and Mandarin.
“As announced by the director just now, only 12.7 per cent of the candidates in Sarawak have managed to score at least A- in English, while 14.3 per cent of the candidates in Malaysia scored at least A- in the subject.
“Aside from that, 21.4 per cent of the candidates in Sarawak have not been able to score at least Grade E, having scored Grade G (fail) in English this year,” he said.
In view of that, he said greater effort is needed to ensure more candidates could master the English language aside from Malay in future.
He said this is also in line with the state government’s policy of English as a second official language.