KUANTAN: Wanting to follow her elder sister's path to university, Jazlin Jusoh became the sole Orang Asli student in Pahang to achieve a perfect 4.0 cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the 2023 Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM).
The student found out when the results were announced on Wednesday (July 24).
"My sister Jazreen's success in getting a place in Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) has been the reason for me to excel," she said after receiving the National Best Student award under the Orang Asli category from the Malaysian Examination Council.
She also attributes her success to her relentless determination in pursuing her dream of becoming an educator.
On this, Jazlin said that her academic success is the perfect gift for her parents Juriah Lima and Jusoh Kutar, who sacrificed a lot to see her do well in her studies with the hope that she will be able to improve her family in the future.
She said her results have proven that even the child of a rubber tapper can succeed through relentless effort.
"I used all the time I had to study for the exam,"she said.
The third child among six siblings said she hopes that her dream to enrol in Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris can become true so that she can become a teacher.
Previously, Jazlin scored 5As,2Bs and 1C in her SPM examinations and on this, she said she started to find a direction for her future and identified suitable higher education institutions to attend while she was in Form 6.
"I will be pursuing a degree in Geography Education, which has been my interest for a long time. I hope this path will open up opportunities for me to become a teacher one day," she said.
Meanwhile the state Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) director Johari Alwi said only one Orang Asli student in Pahang achieved a GPA of 4.0, and 21 students were categorised as excellent with a GPA of 2.80.
He said Jakoa will assist the students to continue their studies at university in their preferred fields.
He said prior to this, SPM students from the community who scored excellent results were also helped by the department.
