Compiled by SHERIDAN MAHAVERA, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
A FATHER had already reached one of the highest levels of academic achievement after obtaining a PhD in business management.
But 58-year-old R. Baskaran wanted to inspire and instil in his youngest child a love for knowledge and he decided to do that by taking the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam with her, Harian Metro reported.
On Thursday, Baskaran joined his daughter Dannya to celebrate getting straight As in both of their SPM exams when they picked up their results from SM Tinggi Bukit Mertajam.
The father obtained 7As, while his daughter scored 11As.
“After completing my studies at all the highest levels I wanted to apply what I learnt at the ground level and support my daughter in her own SPM journey,” said the medical coordinator at the Penang Hospital.
“At the same time, I wanted to challenge myself as I saw the SPM syllabus looked quite difficult.
“Although I’m not young anymore, if you really want something, you’ll have to put your mind to it,” he said.
He said he also wanted to improve his 1984 SPM results where he obtained only Grade 2.
Baskaran holds a bachelor’s degree in management from Universiti Sains Malaysia and a Masters from Universiti Utara Malaysia in occupational safety and health. He completed his PhD in business management at a private college.
“I had wanted to take the SPM again with my first and second child but the circumstances were not right at the time. So I did it with my youngest.
“We studied and revised our lessons together while watching YouTube videos which gave us a lot of techniques on how to answer the questions.
“When my child did not understand something, I would teach her and when I did not comprehend the lessons, she would teach me,” he said.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
