BENTONG, October 22 : Some 500 students from 14 schools in Pahang today took part in a one-day seminar to help them achieve good results in Additional Mathematics and Physics subjects in the upcoming Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
Organised by the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), the “Success in SPM Additional Maths and Physics” seminar was part of ECERDC’s empower human capital development programme which aims to enhance the academic achievement and job marketability of the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) locals through academic training and skills training programmes.
During the seminar, the selected students from Bentong, Temerloh, Raub and Lipis were exposed to the right techniques in answering Additional Maths and Physics exam questions. The programme was also aimed at boosting their confidence in facing the two subjects, which have been traditionally known as tough subjects among students.
Renowned educationist Sunny Yee has been engaged by ECERDC to coach the students at the seminar. Present to launch the seminar today was Health Minister, YB Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bentong.
ECERDC Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Jebasingam Issace John said the workshop will help provide the students with the skills and confidence when sitting for the Additional Maths and Physics papers during SPM.
“Although our KPI for empower students is 100 per cent passes in their examination, we hope the majority of these 500 students will score an ‘A’ in Add Maths and Physics respectively,” said Dato’ Issace, adding that his optimism is based on empower’s previous success.
To date, some 1,500 students in Pahang have already benefitted from the Academic Skills Training programme under ECER’s empower initiative, recording 100 per cent passes in public examinations and marked improvement in their academic performance.
Citing several examples, Dato’ Issace said 19 participants of empower Temerloh scored more than 5A’s in the 2011 SPM examination. Two of them scored 10A’s while another four students achieved 9A’s in the examination. As for empower Lipis, there were 16 students who achieved 5A’s and above in 2011, including one scoring 10A’s and another with 9A’s.
“Several of these top scorers were in fact average and below-average students when they first joined the empower programme. Within only one year, empower has proven its success in training these students to be high achievers. We are confident such a feat could be repeated this year,” he noted.
He added that ECERDC is committed to enhance the human resource capability in ECER through academic empowerment and character-building, starting right from primary school level to secondary level.
Since 2010 to date, the empower programme has benefitted 10,300 participants, comprising 6,000 Academic Skills Training and 4,300 Skills & Entrepreneurship Skills Training participants
First launched as a pilot programme in Bentong two years ago, empower has since been expanded to Temerloh, Lipis, Raub and Cameron Highlands in Pahang; Jeli and Bachok in Kelantan; and Kemaman in Terengganu.