Rural background no barrier to academic success

SIBU: Bumiputera students, particularly those from rural areas, should not assume they are incapable of mastering Science or Mathematics simply because of their background or where they come from.

Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Datuk Dr Annuar Rapa’ee, said a student’s ability is not determined by race or where they were raised but by effort, practice and self-confidence.

He said Mathematics, in particular, was not a subject to be feared as success could be achieved through understanding its principles and continuous practice.

“Do not think that because you are Bumiputera, you cannot learn Science or Mathematics. You can.

“We are all born with the ability to learn. Mathematics actually requires practice. Practise, practise and continue practising every day,” he said at the closing ceremony of the SPM 2025 Excellence Workshop at SMK Ulu Balingian here on Friday (Sept. 18).

Dr Annuar said students should make practising past-year examination questions one of their main methods of strengthening their grasp of Mathematics as certain question formats or concepts often have similarities.

He said failure to master Mathematics was often due to a lack of practice rather than an inability to learn the subject.

“There is not much that needs to be memorised. You need to understand the principles and do plenty of practice.

“If you keep practising, particularly with questions from previous years, you will find that certain question formats are repeated or involve almost similar concepts,” said the Nangka assemblyman.

He also urged rural students not to feel inferior when facing students from urban areas but instead to view the educational opportunities available to them as a platform to prove their capabilities.

Dr Annuar said his own experience in the medical field had demonstrated that Sarawakians could achieve high levels of education and professional success if they were determined to continue learning.

He said that during his service as a medical officer, he worked alongside colleagues and specialists from outside Sarawak who had strong educational backgrounds but never regarded this as a reason to consider himself inferior.

“I told myself that I wanted to prove one thing to the medical fraternity: I am also at the same level as you,” he added.

“That is why I never wanted to stop learning as a medical officer. I continued my studies.”

He said students should cast aside the mindset that they could not succeed simply because they came from rural areas or had different backgrounds.

“Never think that you cannot do it. If you constantly think that you cannot succeed, you will not make the effort to achieve it,” he added.

“At the age of 17, it is far too early to say that you cannot achieve your dreams.”

Meanwhile, Dr Annuar reminded more than 160 students who participated in the workshop to remain focused on their SPM preparations and make use of the remaining 65 days before the examination to improve their performance.

In a separate matter, he said students, particularly those from low-income families and rural areas, should no longer regard financial constraints as a reason to stop studying after Form Five.

He said opportunities for further education were now much broader through matriculation, foundation programmes, polytechnics, public universities and higher education institutions in Sarawak, including initiatives offering free higher education.

“Not a single one of you should stop studying after Form Five. After completing Form Five, there are so many opportunities available to you,” he reiterated.

According to him, access to higher education had changed significantly compared with previous generations.

The development of Universiti Teknologi Sarawak (UTS), for example, had seen its student population increase from about 1,000 in 2021 to more than 5,000 today while the proportion of Bumiputera students had risen from around 10 per cent to 45 per cent.

He said higher education should be viewed as an instrument of social mobility to help the younger generation improve their families’ economic circumstances while choosing fields of study that meet the needs of the state’s economy.

At the same time, Dr Annuar said the Sarawak Government was also focusing on graduate employability by planning earlier exposure to industry, including from the first year of study, through collaboration among four state-owned institutions: i-CATS University College, Curtin University Malaysia, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, and UTS.

He said the move was important to ensure graduates not only possessed academic qualifications but also had the experience and skills required by industry.