Minimum 3A, 3B in UPSR for fully residential schools' admission

The Education Ministry has set new conditions for admission to the fully residential schools (SBP) for 2017, said Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof.

He said the student intake would be based on their academic achievement of scoring at least 3A and 3B in the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) this year.

He said improvements to the intake policy and students' criteria for SBP 2017 admission were prepared by taking into account the UPSR 2016 format changes.

"However, the selection process of the students for SBP does not rely solely on academic achievement or academic merit score. Students placement will also take into account the assessment of Physical Activity, Sport and Co-Curriculum.

"School Assessment and Psychometric Assessment will also serve as the main references in the students’selection to enter SBP," he told reporters after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the ministry and Microsoft Malaysia here Friday.

So far, Khair said the department has received almost 60,000 online applications for SBP 2017 admission and a total of 69 SBP schools would provide 9,000 places for successful students to start their Form One next year.

"The students' selection will be conducted fairly. Apart from academic achievement, the selection will also be based on students’ overall achievement based on School-Based Assessment (SBA)," he said.

On whether the 9,519 candidates who obtained all E would be allowed to remain in Year Six to improve their results before moving to Form One, Khair said all students could continue to Form One as the schools would be equipped with the students' data for the school to formulate appropriate programmes and interventions. -- Bernama