Fewer PMR straight As, minimum passes; urban schools continue to fare better than rural ones in S'wak
Kuching: The state recorded a slight decrease in the number of students scoring straight As in this year's Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR), while the results also showed a dip in the number of students scoring the minimum D in all subject and the State Average Grade (Gred Purata Negeri or GPN).
State Education Department, in its official announcement, said 1,781 students (4.58 per cent) scored straight As compared with 1,948 students (4.99 per cent) last year and 1,877 (4.85 per cent) in 2010.
"A total of 26,101 students scored at least D in all subjects. The total was a decrease from last year's 26,946 students.
"For the total GPN, an increase of 0.03 points have been recorded, bringing the overall GPN to 2.91 compared with last year's 2.88. This shows a decrease in performance, as the lower the point is, the better the result," said Quality Assurance Sector head Abdul Rahman Bolhassan, who was representing the state director Abdillah Adam at the official announcement of the state-level PMR results at SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi yesterday.
He said urban schools fared better than their rural counterparts as they recorded a decrease of 0.18 points in GPN to 2.70 compared with an increase of 0.24 points to 3.05 recorded by the latter.
"Urban students who scored straight As numbered at 1,206, a slight decrease from last year's 1,286. Those who scored a minimum D in all subjects showed a slight increase, with a total of 11,802 this year compared with last year's 11,594.
"Rural students who scored all As were 575 and there were 14,299 who scored a minimum of D in all subjects," said Abdul Rahman, who read Abdillah's text of speech.
Overall, he said, the state achieved a satisfactory performance.
"The subjects that are above or on par with national-level results are Bahasa Melayu with 95 per cent of candidates achieving the minimum D in all subjects, followed by Chinese Language (90 per cent), Science (94.1 per cent) and Iban Language (90.1 per cent).
"State-wise, four out of 14 subjects saw improvement in terms of number of straight As achievers, namely Bahasa Melayu (increase of 4.3 per cent to 22.1 per cent), History (increase of 0.1 per cent to 14.6 per cent), Living Skills 2 - Home Economics (increase of 1.0 per cent to 16.5 per cent) and Living Skills 3 - Agriculture (increase of 0.2 per cent to 13.0 per cent)," he said.
According to him, the following eight schools in the state had students scoring at least D in all subjects - SM Sains Kuching, SM Sains Miri, Sekolah Seni Kuching, Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Kuching, Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Betong, Maktab Rendah Sains Mara Mukah, Lodge School and Tunku Putra School.
SM Sains Kuching had 63 (67.7 per cent) straight As students out of 93 who sat for the examination this year and recorded an average grade of 1.07.
Also present at the announcement were State Education Department assessment and examination sector head Su Hiong Ai and SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi principal Affida Helmi.
--Courtesy of The Borneo Post Online