KUALA LUMPUR: Two orang asli students are among the country’s 17 top students in Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM).
Najurai Agus, from SMK Sultan Yussuf in Batu Gajah, said hard work had helped her to score high marks.
“You have to focus in class and take notes. When you’re at home, you have to look them over and do your own exercises,” she said, adding that forming study groups was another good method to succeed.
Fellow top sudent Farah Syahera Chin, from SMK Khir Johari in Sungai Sumun, Bagan Datoh, said study groups were useful because everyone could share what they understood on a subject and bounce ideas off each other.
Both Najurai and Farah Syahera scored a CGPA of 3.50.
Najurai aspires to be an accountant, while Farah Syahera wants to be a teacher.
The Malaysian Examinations Council president Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said this was the first time top orang asli students were being recognised for their excellent STPM results.
Together with other top scorers, the duo received RM1,000, a certificate and a plaque.
Meanwhile, Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar Johor students Mohamad Asri Arshad and Mohamad Firdaus Ngatiman were top students in the special needs category, with both scoring a CGPA of 4.0.
Mohamad Asri, who is visually impaired, said he wanted students like himself not to feel left out.
“I know the exam will be tough, but nothing is easy to accomplish because everything takes determination to succeed,” he added.
He wants to become a teacher for the disabled or to teach history, which is his favourite subject.
Mohamad Firdaus, who has suffered from retinopathy of prematurity from birth, said he wanted to show his parents he could face life’s challenges.
“I believe if a person is considerate, hard-working and can be guided by both teachers and parents, they can achieve what they want,” he said, adding that he wanted to become a Bahasa Malaysia teacher.
SMK St John Kuala Lumpur student Kaveinthran Pulanthran, who is visually impaired, also obtained a CGPA of 4.0.
He hoped to study psychology and computer programming.
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