Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the names of successful applicants would be announced today.

“The details will be posted on the ministry’s website, www.moe.gov.my, while unsuccessful pupils can file their appeals online via e-rayuan,” he said in a statement.

He said appeals could be filed from tomorrow till Jan 12 but the number of vacant places would only be known after the boarding school registrations on Jan 11. — Bernama

The application will be implemented in two phases with phase one started on Nov 2 till Dec 31 while the second phase from Feb 2 to 12pm on March 30, said the Higher Education Ministry in a statement on Saturday.

It said the application would be divided into four phases for SPM 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 school leavers, those with equivalent qualifications and repeat certificates.

The applications are to be sent to http://upu.mohe.gov.my.

Applicants for the first phase are only required to use their identity card/MyKad numbers and a password.

Applicants for the first phase are only required to use an ID unique number and their identity card/MyKad numbers and a password.

The ID unique number priced at RM10.60 can be purchased at Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), through ATM machines or via SMS (space) Banking (for GIRO account holders) nationwide from Feb 1 till the closing date on March 30, said the statement.

Applicants will be allowed to submit their applications once and three times to make changes to their applications until the closing date.

For clarification and enquiries, they can contact the Student Admission Management Division of the Higher Education Department at 03-88835801 or 03-88835802 or check out the website www.upu.mohe.gov.my to obtain their email.

Source: BERNAMA with some corrections.

Photo from The Star

Asia e-University (AeU) has recently decided to sponsor about 20 schools for The Star’s NIE programme.  Under the sponsorship, which started in June, 10,000 copies of The Star’s NiE pullout were distributed to 20 secondary schools.

The 20 schools which have been chosen to benefit from this sponsorship are namely: SMK Raja Mahadi, SMK Pandamaran Jaya, SMK Sri Andalas, SMK Abdul Jalil, SMK Engku Husain, SMK Taman KOSAS, SMK Taman Seraya, SMK Perimbun, SMK Tasek Permai, SMK Jalan REKO, SMK Jalan Tiga, SMK Cheras Perdana, SMK Bukit Indah, SMK Cheras Jaya, SMK Saujana Impian, SMK Bandar Baru Ampang, SMK Bandar Baru Sg Long, SMK Bandar Sri Damansara 1 and 2, and SMK Meru Klang.

AeU is a dual-mode international university established under the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) with the support of 31 member countries, including Malaysia as a prime mover for e-education.

Source: The Star

Dr Subramaniam said the Cabinet had requested him to find ways in resolving the problem which he stressed, must be fair to all students.

“This is the view of the Cabinet. We (the Cabinet) spent some 15 minutes discussing the matter and decided that whatever decision to be taken must be fair to the students, including those taking only 10 subjects,” he told reporters before closing a workshop on Crime Prevention organized by the MIC Youth here.

The dispute erupted after the Education Ministry decided to cap the SPM subjects to only ten.

However, last week, Dr Subramaniam requested the Cabinet to review the decision and the Cabinet decided to allow SPM students to take maximum 12 subjects or what the ministry termed as 10 plus two.

But several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were still not satisfied as they claimed the decision would sideline vernacular subjects such as Tamil and Chinese languages and Tamil Literature which would be taken as the additional two subjects by some students.

This, they argued, was because although the ministry decided to allow for a maximum of 12 subjects, only the 10 core subjects would be considered for government scholarships.

Dr Subramaniam said the Cabinet felt while a solution was necessary, it must take into account the wishes and decisions of all the students and not just a few.

The minister said that 30 percent of Indian students sitting for SPM would be taking either the Tamil Language or Tamil Literature or both.

“I will continue my discussions with the Education Ministry until a solution is found,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR

Cluster schools will give the school administration complete autonomy to administer their very own school, with a good RM500k, to be spent on enhancing the school towards its niche. Previously, there was only 60 cluster schools under ex-Education Minister Hisyamuddin Hussein.The list on the left shows the schools involved in the 3 phases of the new 60 cluster schools.  Click to enlarge the photo. PHOTO: NST Online

Director General of Education, Dr Alimuddin said on 7 September 2009, that the number of school days for next year is 210 days with 78 allocated school holidays.

PUTRAJAYA

“The number of pupils scoring all As increases to 9.51 per cent this year compared to 9.19 per cent last year.

“The number of those with good achievement (minimum C) increases to 63.03 per cent compared to 62.56 per cent last year while the percentage of those with all Es declined to 0.64 per cent compared to 0.66 per cent last year,” he told a news conference.

There were 506,620 pupils who sat for the UPSR this year compared to 507,320 last year.

He said that rural candidates also showed an improvement although they still lagged behind their urban counterparts.

“Overall, the gap between rural and urban pupils is narrowing. This can be seen in the contraction in the overall achievement disparity between rural and urban pupils,” he said.

He said that the gap between rural and urban pupils achieving excellent results this year was 3.64 per cent compared to 4.22 per cent last year.

The gap for good performance between the two areas is 5.55 per cent this year compared to 6.25 per cent last year.

In terms of subject, Tamil language showed a strong improvement in the number of students obtaining Grade A, which is 3.6 per cent, while Mathematics also showed a strong increase, which is 4.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, 2,725 of 24,826 UPSR candidates in KUALA LUMPUR obtained 5As and 7As in the examination.

Federal Territory education director Sulaiman Wak said 66.89 per cent of 16,607 candidates passed the examination.

“Although the percentage is down from 66.94 last year, the percentage of those scoring all As increased to 10.98 per cent compared to 10.90 last year,” he told reporters.

He said 94 candidates in SK Setiawangsa scored all As, 80 in SK Bukit Damansara and 76 in SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

In TERENGGANU, 3,664 or 15 per cent of 23,944 candidates obtained all As, state education director Ariffin Embong said.

In KELANTAN, some 69.03 per cent of 25,369 candidates passed their UPSR, an increase of 2.25 per cent compared to last year, state education director Mohd Ghazali Abdul Rahman said.

He said the number of candidates who obtained 5As and 7As had increased by 14.31 per cent to 5,259 candidates compared to 4,244 last year.

“Three subjects show a significant increase either in terms of percentage or the quality of grades obtained, namely Mathematics, Science and English,” he said.

In PERLIS, 439 or 9.53 per cent of 4,607 candidates scored either 5As or 7As.

State education director Mansor Lat said the achievement was an increase of 0.79 per cent from 8.74 per cent last year.

In NEGERI SEMBILAN, the state education department will study the reason for the decline in the achievement for the English language.

The decline is about 2.5 per cent for national schools and 1.7 per cent for national-type schools, state deputy education director Jamali Salam said.

Overall 2,343 of 19,404 candidates in Negeri Sembilan obtained 5A or 7A.

In JOHOR, 6,283 or 10.13 per cent of 62,401 candidates obtain all As.

Johor education director Sufa’at Tumin said the figure was an increase from 9.64 per cent last year.

In PERAK, the number of pupils scoring excellent results dropped slightly by 0.27 per cent from 9.05 per cent last year to 8.78 per cent this year.

State eduxcation director Mohd Radzi Abd Jabar said 3,937 of 44,856 candidates in Perak obtained 5As 7As.

In PAHANG, seven Orang Asli pupils obtained 5As in the examination, deputy state education director Abdul Hamid Abu Bakar said.

“Of the total 761 Orang Asli candidates, 18.4 per cent passes all subjects,” he said.

A total of 3,225 candidates in Pahang obtained 5As and 7As compared to 3,145 last year.

In KEDAH, 3,742 or 9.36 per cent of candidates obtain all As, an increase compared to 8.69 per cent last year.

State education director Shahidan Abd Rahman said the number of students who passed all the subjects increased to 25,344 candidates or 63.37 per cent this year compared to 24,775 or 61.84 per cent last year.

In PENANG, the state recorded an increase in the number of students who passed in all subjects this year.

State education director Ibrahim Mohamad told a news conference that of the 26,259 students who sat for the UPSR, 17,638 managed to pass in all subjects.

He said the number of student who achieved all As was 3,177 or 12.10 per cent.

Two schools managed to record 100 per cent passes this year namely Sekolah Model Khas Tok Jaya in Butterworth and SJKC Kuang Yu in Kepala Batas.

Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Lanchang emerged as the state’s best UPSR performing school with 70 students scoring 5As.

– BERNAMA
–PHOTO from The Sun

BUKIT MERTAJAM

The timid girl, who shyly plays with her cats, Comel and Pak Tam, said her father Md Dali Ismail, had plans to send her to a religious school in Pokok Sena, Tasek Gelugor, next year.

“I want to go back to school, but I feel sad to leave my mother at home because the school hours there are long, from 9am and 4pm on weekdays,” she said at her home yesterday.

On Wednesday, Nurhaniza, 35, a housewife, who weighs 170kg, told reporters that she was dependent on her only daughter Nurbayti to bathe her and cook for the family.

She said it had been two years since she stepped out of the house and had to drag herself around the house as every time she tried to stand up, her knees would fail her.

Nurhaniza used to weigh 110kg five years ago, but claimed she started putting on weight after taking some Indonesian jamu tablets (traditional medication) to relieve muscular pain in her knees.

Md Dali and Nurhaniza divorced seven years ago and two years later, Nurhaniza married Abu Bakar Hashim, 50, who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 16. He earns about RM700 a month as an odd-job worker.

“I do not wish to be a selfish mother and deprive my daughter of a good education. If there are people willing to help sponsor her studies, I will be extremely grateful.”

She said her family was used to living with bare necessities. They only have a television set, a refrigerator, a radio, a table fan and a motorcycle.

The bare hall is also used as their bedroom, while the narrow washing area outside is used as a bathroom. The water is murky.

Nurbayti has no books or dolls, but only two soiled soft toys that she cuddles to sleep.

Nurhaniza said her 40-year-old wooden stilt house, which belonged to her foster sister in Kuala Lumpur, was also crumbling.

Penang Umno public complaints and welfare secretariat (Sepakat) chief operating officer Azlina Mehtab Mohd Ishaq said those keen on helping Nurhaniza’s family, could contact the Sepakat office on Level 2, MPSP Municipal Court building, Lorong Kampung Jawa, Bagan Luar, Butterworth, or call Ida or Shima at 04-333 2155.

-The Star Online