GEORGE TOWN, June 16 (Bernama) — The principle of “Where there is a will, there is a way” steered a special candidate to excel in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2021 examination.
Tan Jun Sheng, 18, a visually impaired candidate from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Georgetown managed to obtain 2A+s, 5As and 1B+ in his subjects for SPM 2021.
Tan said his disability was not an obstacle to try something new and the SPM results had clearly proven that one should be courageous enough to venture.
“Even though I was born with vision problems because my eyes cannot focus in the light … I dared to take difficult subjects in SPM because of my interest in geography and sports science.
“Many people asked me why … but I am interested in geography as I want to know the earth more closely, apart from enjoying sports since I was a child,” he said when met at SMK Georgetown here today.
Tan, who is the only child in the family, said despite the eye-sight handicap, he could still read with a magnifying glass in primary school.
“My vision started to deteriorate when I was 14 and now I can’t see anything when it is bright,” he said.
He said he initially faced difficulties in learning under the home-based online lessons introduced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said school teachers were a big help in preparing and sending diagrams while his mother read textbooks to him.
Tan’s mother, Anna Lim, 49, said she was very pleased with her son’s SPM results because this was the result of his sheer hard work and never-give-up attitude.
“I would also like to thank all the teachers at SMK Georgetown for their dedication,” she said.
Meanwhile, SPM 2021 outstanding student Nur Aina Fadhlina Ahmad Fazli, 18, from SMK Bukit Jambul said she was determined to achieve the best results to repay the faith of her teachers and the sacrifices of her mother, who is a single parent.
Nur Aina, who scored 9A+s, said that although it was tedious to study online during the pandemic, she would be awake as early as 3 am to do her own revision.
“I intend to continue my studies in accounting though I am still unsure on which university,” she said.
Nur Aina’s mother, Nor Dibradini Selamat, 46, said although her daughter’s SPM trail examination results were quite good, she never expected her to obtain A+ in all her subjects.
Dibradini, a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Kedah, said she was supportive of any major that her daughter was keen on.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency