Jeli, January 14, 2012 – All 280 students enrolled in the East Coast Economic Region’s (ECER) ’empower’ programme passed their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations in 2011, with 57 of them scoring straight As. This programme was initiated back in March 2011.

The 160 UPSR students made an impressive achievement to obtain full passes in the examination, with 27% or 44 students scoring straight As. Of the 120 PMR students, 13 students or 11% scored straight As.

The programme which began in Jeli involved 695 students who were to take part in the UPSR, PMR and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations.

Currently, the ’empower’ Jeli programme serves four primary schools and six secondary schools. Prior to embarking the ’empower’ programme, the majority of the students were considered below average in academic performances.

In PMR 2011, the results also showed that 70% of the 120 students passed their examination with minimum grades of 3As and 4Bs, hence surpassing the initial target of 12 students achieving such grades.

In recognition of the UPSR and PMR students’ scholastic improvement for 2011, 57 top scorers were given awards which was presided by the Member of Parliament of Jeli and also Minister of International Trade and Industry, YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed today.

ECER Development Council (ECERDC) Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Jebasingam Issace John, said both UPSR and PMR results in Jeli were very encouraging.

“All the students registered under ’empower’ Jeli passed their examinations and we are happy to see that these students have showed a marked improvement based on their pre-trial, trial and final examinations results,” he said.

Dato’ Issace noted the latest results met ECERDC’s key performance indicator (KPI) for the Academic Skill Training programme that stipulated 100% passes in UPSR and PMR examinations and overall increase in academic achievements for the students.

He added that self-improvement courses such as Mind Mapping, Speed Reading, Creative Note Taking, Mind Science for memory enhancement and Number Sense to improve their mathematical skills have been introduced to supplement tuition classes for ’empower’ Jeli students.

Located about 100 km from Kota Bharu, the Jeli district has a population of more than 45,000 people. ECERDC expanded its ’empower’ programme, consisting of Academic Skill Training and Entrepreneurship Skill Training, to Jeli, following the success of its pilot project in Bentong, Pahang back in year 2010.