JOHOR BARU: Five candidates who scored excellent Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results will be sponsored by the Johor government to further their studies overseas.
State education and information committee chairman Aznan Tamin said the candidates would be given a chance to pursue their tertiary education in one of the top 20 universities worldwide.
“Five straight A candidates will be given this opportunity this year, which is an increase from the three candidates we sent overseas last year.
“This is part of the state government’s education initiatives, implemented through Yayasan Pelajaran Johor,” he said in his speech when opening the state-level SPM excellence award ceremony at a hotel here on Sunday (June 23).
He added that the state would also give one-off assistance of RM500 to each of the 22,000 Johrean students who would be enrolling into a higher education institution this year to lessen their financial burden.
During the ceremony, 50 of the state’s best SPM and 10 Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia candidates were recognised.
Each of them was given a certificate, plaque and RM1,000 courtesy of Yayasan Raja Zarith Sofiah Negeri Johor.
Among them was How Xue Qi from SMK Taman Daya who was named the Johor Inspirational SPM Student for passing all eight subjects in the examination despite having only one limb.
Aznan added that a total of 42,221 candidates sat for the 2023 SPM examination in Johor, where 133 were special needs candidates.
