Difficulties in life no obstacle for outstanding Penang students

GEORGE TOWN: A difficult start in life proved no obstacle for Kayalvhily who scored 7As in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
The SMK Tunku Puan Habsah top scorer who has lived with her uncle and aunt since the demise of her mother, said she was determined to make a success of her life.
Kayalvhily said she did not expect to achieve such good results as her academic record was not good in Form One but has resolved to do better since.
"I started to pay attention in class and sought help from teachers and friends when I could not understand the subject," she said, and thanked her uncle, aunt, friends and teachers for their assistance, when met after receiving her SPM results.
While Agalyah Murugiah who obtained 6As credited her success to her parents and teachers who encouraged her to do her best.
"I studied for three to four hours a day," she added.
Meanwhile, Chung Ling High School student Wat Chuang Ming said he did not expect to obtain 10As after receiving his results.
He said he was only expecting 8As as he was not confident of scoring in biology and Mandarin.
"I am satisfied with my results," he added.
Penang Education Department Director Shaari Osman said five candidates statewide recorded straight A pluses while 656 candidates obtained straight As for the 2016 edition compared to 725 candidates for the 2015 period.
"I am happy to see that many students have passed their SPM examination as they are the first batch of students that attended the Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) examination.
"The students who have gone through PT3 are more analytical and have more high order thinking skills,"he said in announcing the results where a total of 19,563 candidates sat for the exam and of the five top scorers, four of them are from SMK Bukit Jambul and one is from SMK Tinggi Bukit Mertajam.