KUANTAN: Two teachers of Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Mas in Sungai Lembing did all they could to persuade their Orang Asli pupils to attend the resit of the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah’s (UPSR) Science and English papers yesterday.
The teachers managed to locate and cajole seven of the 11 candidates from the school to attend the resit.
“We had to go to each house and wake them up. Luckily, seven of them were at home while the rest had already followed their parents to collect forest produce,” said senior assistant (administration) Nawawi Sarupin.
The school has 18 teachers and 102 Orang Asli pupils from the Jakun tribe.
Nawawi said it was normal for teachers from the school to fetch the students at their homes to encourage them to attend classes before.
Teacher and examination invigilator Mohd Omar Fadhil said they also had to motivate the parents to encourage their children to go to school as it could improve their living standards.
One of the UPSR candidates, Sabrina Sabroy, 12, said she did not want to miss the examination as she wanted to excel in her studies.
“I want to be a nurse one day and to prove to my relatives and friends that an Orang Asli like me can also excel in education,” said Sabrina, who obtained 2B and 3C in her UPSR trial examination.
Her classmate Kamal Zainal, whose ambition is to become a teacher, said he aimed to get 5As in the UPSR examination.