5/12/2012 — The Star
LIPIS: The East Coast Economic Region’s empower programme for the Lipis district had churned out high achievers within a year since its launch.
A total of 15 students from schools around the district scored 5As and above in last year’s Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
Among them were Nur Amni Najihah Zainal Abidin from SM Padang Tengku who scored 10As, Kwong Sook Wei from SM Benta with 9As and 2Bs and Anizatun Faezah Muhd Kasim from SM Orang Kaya Haji (7As and 1B).
Recently, the students received certificates of excellence from Lipis district education officer Misnan Mohd Damin in recognition of their achievements.
ECER Development Council chief executive officer Datuk Jebasingam Issace John said since the launching in March last year, the ‘Empower Lipis’ programme had shown encouraging results in terms of academic achievements for the participants.
“Empower Lipis consists of academic training programme for students sitting for the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) and SPM examinations.
“In addition, focus were also given to youths who are looking for a job or planning to set up their own business to be self-dependent,” he said.
Issace John said its skills and entrepreneurship training programmes had also assisted these youths in looking for entrepreneur opportunities to earn higher income.
He said the initiative was in line with the Government Transformation Programme to create a high-income society among all Malaysians.
Lipis was the third district in Pahang to adopt the programme after Bentong and Raub.
Among others, it involved a pioneer batch of 900 local residents, comprising 400 students for academic training and 500 youths as well as adults enrolling for the entrepreneurship skills training programme.
Issace John said those chosen for the academic training programme were average and below average students in which they were given tuition classes and motivational guidance.
“Of the 120 students who sat for SPM last year, 30 of them secured full passes with a minimum of 4As.
“In the PMR exams, 37 of them scored 5As and above while 26 pupils obtained straight As in their UPSR last year,” he said.
The programme was first introduced in Bentong in March 2010 to enhance human resources capabilities through academic empowerment and character-building in schools.
