STPM: Gap between urban and rural students decreases in Johor

JOHOR BARU: The performance gap of STPM students in the urban and rural areas is getting smaller as seen in the National Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), said Johor deputy education director Azman Adnan.
Stating that it is an achievement in the national education system, he said rural candidates scored 2.81 CGPA points while those in the urban areas scored 2.80 points.
"In fact, the state CGPA recorded 2.81 points, higher than the national 2.71," he told reporters at the state education department building here today.
A total of 4,830 candidates sat for the STPM examinations state-wide last year from the 5,220 who had initially registered for it.
Of these, 308 or 6.38% sat for five subjects while 4,522 (93.62%) sat for four subjects. Only one candidate took the Literature in English subject.
The three subjects which saw a decline in the passing rate were Chinese language (-12.63%), Physics (-2.58%) and business studies (-0.51%).
Last year, 164 candidates or 3.4% passed in five subjects while 3,560 or 73.71% in four subjects. These two categories recorded an increase of 1.33% as compared to 2015.
Johor also has four high achievers (all female students) who will receive national awards.
They are Lim Lee Peng of SMK Tunku Putra, Batu Pahat, Ng Xin Ye from SMK Taman Kluang Barat, Kluang; Lim Xin Huo, from SMK Seri Bandar Pontian, Pontian, and Khairunnisaq Khairuddin, from SMK Bandar Mas, Kota Tinggi. Lim Xin Ye and Khairunnisaq are blind.
Meanwhile, 89 STPM candidates in Johor scored a CGPA of 4.00 compared to 50 candidates in 2015.