Special attention on autistic top scorer

Special attention on autistic top scorer

2008/09/10

KUALA TERENGGANU: All eyes were on Muhammad Danial Zainuddin on the first day of the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination yesterday. Sitting alone in a room answering his examination papers, away from the other UPSR candidates, the 12-year-old autistic student of Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Hiliran was on the verge of setting a new record for the state by being the first ever student-with-special-needs to score all A's in the UPSR examination.But it was probably just another day for Muhammad Danial who seemed oblivious to the attention he was getting from the visit of several representatives from the state Education Department, including head of special education sector Ngah Bidin who observed him from afar.

"Okay-lah," said the shy and soft spoken Muhammad Danial who started his schooling in a special education class six years ago, summing up his first day's performance.

School headmaster Md Sidek Besar, however, said it should be more than just "okay" as the boy had constantly scored high marks in his school examinations over the past few years.

"As a matter of fact, he has been the school's best student for a while now and judging by his trial examination results.

"He will not just be the best special education candidate but I have a feeling, even among normal candidates, he will be up there hovering near the top," he said.

Meanwhile, state Education Department director Ariffin Embong said a total of 24,337 candidates, including 29 from special education classes, sat for the UPSR examination in the state.

"Aside from looking forward to Muhammad Danial becoming the first special needs candidate in the state to score five As, we are also anticipating a better overall performance from the rest of our candidates this year.

"The state has done well in the past and going by the figures derived from the trial examinations, we can look forward to another good UPSR year."

In Negri Sembilan, state education director Datuk Abdullah Mohamad said a total of 19,844 candidates from the state sat for the UPSR at 334 examination centres throughout the state.
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