Twins score straight As for UPSR

Well done: The twin sisters showing their results to their parents, policeman Kpl. Mohamad Zul-Hilmy Husin and Juliana Herni.

KUANTAN: Spend less time watching television and do not play with your mobile devices that much. That was the tip from two twin sisters who both scored straight As in their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) exams.

Yasmeen Hanum and Yasmeen Hanim Mohamad Zul-Hilmy, both 12, said although they did not always study together as they had different sets of friends, they had never failed to abide by that basic rule.

“After school, we will come home to rest before heading for tuition classes. We will then study during the evening,” said the bashful pair from SK(P) Methodist after receiving their result slips here recently.

Their mother Juliana Herni Jobli, 32, said she had always made sure that her daughters were on an equal level.

“Since they were little, I have wanted them to enjoy the same things and be equal because I do not want any one of them to be jealous of each other. I have never split them up because I want them to support each other.

“They were even in the same class from Year 1 to Year 6. But now that they have proven to me that they can achieve excellence on their own, I will let them make the choice of which secondary schools they want to go to,” she said.

A visually-impaired pupil from the same school also successfully scored 3As and 2Bs in the exams.

Tengku Farrah Adreesya Tengku Zulkifly is partially blind in both eyes due to cataract.

Meanwhile, Pahang Education Department evaluations and examinations sector chief Mohd Razali Mustafar said there was a drop in the number of pupils who scored straight As in the state compared to last year.

There were 2,257 candidates who aced all subjects taken this year as compared to last year’s number of 2,791 candidates, he said.

However, Mohd Razali denied the UPSR leaks was a factor that contributed to the decline.

“Subjects that were not leaked like Bahasa Malaysia also saw a drop in Subject Average Grade while the English paper actually saw an increase. Nevertheless, we will perform a detailed analysis on the results,” he said.

Mohd Razali said the leaks were caused by an extreme reaction towards exams and an unreasonable evaluation of the candidates’ grades.

“For the sake of ensuring an education quality that heads for human capital development, the current examination system will be bolstered and expanded in the concept of assessments that monitors a pupil’s learning development,” he said.