The overall performance of the 2014 Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) candidates saw a 0.02 decline in Average National Grade (GPN) with GPN of 2.29 this year compared to 2.27 in 2013.

Education director-general Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said inspite of the decline, the GPN this year was much better than in 2011 which registered 2.3 points and 2.31 points in 2012 and this should be viewed positively.

A smaller GPN value shows better performance by candidates.  

Khair said 36,304 candidates or 7.89 percent of the 460,407 candidates who sat for the examination scored straight As this year.

“This shows a drop of 1.26 percent compared to 2013, where 42,646 candidates excelled in all subjects,” he said in announcing the UPSR result analysis at the ministry in Putrajaya today.

In SARAWAK, 1,862 candidates scored straight As, a decline of 0.08 percent from 1,916 candidates last year.

State Education Department director Serina Sauni said, inspite of the dip, the number of schools with 100 percent passes increased to 116 from 84 schools last year.

In TERENGGANU, Education Department Assessment and Evaluation Sector head Mohammed Embong said the state’s GPN increased by 0.06 point to 2.14 from 2.20 achieved in 2013, and this figure was above the national level GPN of 2.29 points.

However the number of students who scored As in all subjects decreased by 1.90 percent or 476 candidates compared to last year.

This year, only 2,563 or 12.10 percent of the total 21,099 students scored straight As compared to 3,039 students last year, he said when announcing the UPSR result analysis at the Education Department in Kuala Terengganu today.

“Based on the analysis, the main factor for lesser students scoring straight As was their performance in the Science subject, where 1,286 students or 55.70 percent scored 4A 1B as they only managed a B in Science.

“Nevertheless, the UPSR results this year are the best achievement in 14 years in terms of good scores with minimum of Grade C for all subjects and an increase in GPN,” he said.

In PERAK, 2,847 candidates or 7.6 percent of the 37,479 who sat for the UPSR scored A in all subjects this year.

State Education director Mohd Idris Ramli said the percentage of candidates achieving excellent results, however, saw a slight decrease compared to 8.49 percent last year.

Rural-urban gap decreases

In NEGRI SEMBILAN, 1,833 or 10.5 percent of the 17.510 UPSR candidates achieved the excellent score of 5As or 7As.

State Education deputy director Pkharuddin Ghazali said in terms of scoring all As, the gap between urban and rural students decreased from 4.4 percent to 3.5 percent.

KELANTAN recorded a commendable performance in the UPSR this year when the state attained a GPN of 2.16 points, better than the national GPN of 2.29 points.

State Education Department deputy director Ab Aziz Abdullah said the state GPN remained the same as last year’s.

A total of 3,600 UPSR candidates or 11.15 percent of the total of 31,987 in the state scored A in all subjects, he said in Kota Baru today.

- Bernama