MACHANG: A daughter of a rubber tapper did not forget the sacrifices her parents made so that she could get a good education.
So when Kua Chiu Huay, 19, of SMK Hamzah strode onto stage to receive the award for top Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia student in Kelantan, she stopped halfway and signalled to her parents to follow her.
With her parents, Kua Bon Seng, 48, and Tiu Bee Yeong, 43, by her side, Chiu Huay smiled as she accepted the certificate and gift from state Education Department Director Ismail Md Noor at ceremony at her school here.
Also at hand to cheer them on were her grandparents from both sides, her younger sister and an uncle who travelled from Kampung Belukar Panjang in Temangan.
The second of four siblings, Chiu Huay, who wore her purple-and- white school uniform, later paid tribute to her parents and teachers for their help in her success."My parents are not rich, but they made sure we work hard in our studies.
"I also owe a lot to my teachers for being so generous and concerned."
She was the only one of the 6,222 candidates from government and private schools, and religious school under the the state-owned Kelantan Islamic Foundation who scored As in General Studies, Bahasa Malaysia, Geography, History and Economics.
Nine other students who scored 4As, in the state are Noradilah Othman (SMK Putra Kota Baru), Soh Jien Yen and Toh Chai Lay from SMJK Chung Hwa KB, Wee Wai Hwa from SMK Hamzah, Maslizaini Mohd Zainudi, Nor Azian Abdullah, Mohd Saiful Faizal Mohd Zain and Norazmanira Che Ismail (all from SMK Machang) and Norhidayah Zahari from SMK Sri Gunung, Bachok.
Kelantan recorded a slight dip in the number of candidates scoring five principals with 1,157 students compared to 1,482 in 2006.
However, more candidates scored four principals last year with 1,742.
Ismail said candidates from the government schools did better with 28 per cent scoring four principals while the private candidates and those from the state-run private religious schools recorded 20.4 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.
He said last year's result also showed improvement in Chinese, Physics, Sports Science, Malay Literature, History and Arabic subjects.
