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There was a 4.4 per cent hike in the number of pupils who scored As in English, as compared with the national average of the past five years’ results. There was also a 4.8 per cent increase in competent students (those who scored A, B or C) in the language.
This year, a whopping 46.6 per cent of pupils chose to answer the Mathematics paper in English, while 31.1 per cent were confident enough to tackle the Science paper in English, compared with just 0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively last year.
Results for the Mathematics paper, however, showed a 2.2 per cent decrease in both A scorers and competent students. Alimuddin dismissed any significance in the drop, arguing that it had very little to do with the teaching of the subject in English.
Performance in the Science subject only dipped by 0.7 per cent compared with the average over the last five years.
There is also an increase in the number of pupils scoring As in all subjects. Of the 518,616 pupils, 46,641 passed with flying colours.
“Apart from English, the pupils also generally did significantly better in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese composition and Tamil composition.”
On why the ministry compared this year’s UPSR results with the average over the last five years instead of last year’s examination, Alimuddin said it was more accurate.
Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said 159,234 pupils (31%) answered the Science paper in English while for Mathematics, the figure was 238,153 (46%).
Last year, the number of pupils who answered the Science and Mathematics papers in English were 1,324 and 1,075 respectively.
“The 518,616 pupils who sat for the UPSR this year are the first group to have started studying the two subjects in English since the policy was introduced in 2003,” he told a press conference yesterday after providing an analysis of the UPSR 2008 results at the ministry.
Updated on 15th Nov: More statistics from NST:
The percentage of those scoring As has gone up by 1.4 per cent (9.2 per cent against 7.8 per cent in the last five years).
The number of pupils who obtained A, B or C has also increased by 2.2 per cent to 62.7 per cent.
“The level of confidence and comfort of our children in answering questions in English is obvious. For instance, 52.6 per cent or 266,076 candidates chose to answer in English, including 21.3 per cent who used both Bahasa Melayu and English.”
