SMK Tamparuli on way to becoming a top school – Tangau
TUARAN: SMK Tamparuli is well on its way to becoming a top school not only in the district but in Sabah - an extraordinary feat considering the school's location and challenges that go with it.
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau attributed the success to the hard work and dedication of the teachers and administrations under Principal Jaya Silar A/L Muniandi.
SMK Tamparuli's achievements were both astonishing and impressive, said Tangau who is also Tuaran MP when officiating at the school's excellence award presentation ceremony here on Thursday.
For the PT3, the school marked an increase from 42.4 per cent to 58.8 per cent in the number of students passing all subjects with five of them scoring straight A's. About 50 per cent of the 43 students scoring 8A's from the 10 schools here came from SMK Tamparuli.
For the 2017 SPM, SMK Tamparuli bagged the State most drastic result improvement award by improving its GPS from 5.32 to 4.99. One student each scored 10A's and 9A's while another 21 chalked up 8A's making them the top SPM achievers here.
As for STPM, SMK Tamparuli was adjudged Sabah's best school in the 100 candidates and above category and also won the State Education Department Mekar Award for its performance of having 21 (three of them straight A's) of the 42 STPM high achievers in Tuaran.
“I am so proud of you, despite being located in the rural area but you have shown nothing is impossible with hard work and dedication. I congratulate all the teachers, parents and students,” he said, adding that with such commitment and attitude the school could only go upwards in the future.
While he was aware that SMK Tamparuli, being an old school established in 1964, needed refurbishment and new buildings to cater for the more than 1,800 students, he also called upon the school administrations to be innovative.
“Instead of complaining we should innovate to find solution to the problems,” he said.
Nonetheless, Tangau assured he would be looking into the challenges mentioned by the principal earlier such as insufficient classrooms “in the new term.”
In the meantime, he also reiterated his call to parents to encourage their children to take up subjects in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM, which he had been propagating in his ministry.
“When Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak first took over as Prime Minister he said that Malaysia's economy would be innovationled. This means in order for innovation to spearhead the economy we need talent pool in STEM,” he said.
Towards this end, he said the National STEM Centre had been set up at the IPG Nilai in Negeri Sembilan.
Meanwhile, Jaya Silar said SMK Tamparuli was very fortunate to have a very supportive and concerned leader in Tangau.
Also on hand were District Education Officer Ta Nia Jaman and Parent-Teacher Association Chairman Micheal Kadum.