JITRA: Three best friends proved that teamwork could take them to greater heights despite coming from different racial backgrounds, when the SMK Jitra students obtained straight As in the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) examination.
M. Sutarsan Chandran, Chiang Yi and Nur Azira Ibrahim, all 20, were all smiles as they celebrated the success together with 24 other students who excelled in the last year’s STPM.
Sutarsan, the son of a hospital cleaner said he could never be happier as all of his handwork paid off.
“I dedicate my success to my mother, teachers and friends who pushed me to study hard.
“It had been my routine to study together with Chiang and Azira at the library after school session ended. We were also sharing notes and tips on the subjects,” he said.
Sutarsan said he was so elated to share the good news with his mother, M.Siyamala.
Chiang said they spent about three hours at the school’s library for their study group.
“The study group really helped us. Each of us has our own strength and weakness in all subjects so we helped each other in the group," she said.
Chiang, who wishes to be a lawyer, thanked her parents and teachers for their unwavering support.
Nur Azira said she was so happy to pass the examination with flying colours and vying to further her study at Universiti Sains Malaysia in economics.
Meanwhile, state Education Department director Datin Azuyah Hassan said a total of 3,097 out of 3,669 STPM candidates in the state passed all subjects in the examination.
She said the result showed an improvement of 0.53 per cent compared to 2013 STPM with 98.35 per cent candidates fully passed the papers.
“Of the total, 28 candidates scored grade point average (CGPA) of 4.0 with two of them passed with flying colours,” she said yesterday.
Nurul Shafinas Ahmad Tamigi from SMK Labu Besar, Kulim and Mohammad Ridzuan Mohamed Yunus from SMK Padang Serai emerged as the best students with straight A’s in all four subjects.
She added that a total of 45 schools in the state had achieved 100 per cent passes.
In Kangar, Perlis Education Department director Roslee Ismail said the STPM result saw an improvement of 1.64 per cent among the 485 candidates compared to 2013.
“Of the 485 candidates, a total of 477 candidates achieved full passes or had at least one principal passed and four of these students had scored CGPA of 4.0.
“SMK Perlis came out top in the state with 100 per cent of the candidates passed all the subjects and scored CGPA of 3.01,” he said.