Bali junior high students outshine the rest

Bali junior high students outshine the rest

The island’s junior high students followed in the wake of senior high students by posting the country’s highest average grades at the recent national examinations.

“I am very happy about and very proud of this achievement,” Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said Saturday. “I would like to extend my gratitude to the teachers and students who have worked tirelessly to ensure that this province always comes out on the top at every challenge.”

Students of state junior high school SMP 1 in Denpasar, arguably the most prestigious public junior high school in Bali, scored an overall average grade of 37.61, ranking the school top in the country.

I Made Aditya Pramartha, a student at Denpasar’s state junior high school SMP 3, scored an average grade of 39.10, booking a perfect 10 in three of the four subjects he sat.

A few weeks ago, Bali’s senior high students scored the country’s highest passing rate of 99.96 percent and two students from state senior high school SMA 4 scored the highest average grade nationwide. Students from the same school also took the second, third and fourth positions.

“We must work hard to maintain our education sector, to enable our students to post similar achievements in the future,” Pastika added.

SMP 1 was closely followed in second place by Gianyar’s state junior high school SMP 1 Sukawati and Denpasar’s SMP 3. Ni Made Ayu Suryantari from Karangasem’s state junior high school SMP 2 Amlapura scored the second-highest average grade and Putu Bagus Darmayasa from Gianyar’s SMP 1 Sukawati was third.

Of the 56,690 junior high school students in Bali sitting the exams, only 38 failed to pass, bringing the island’s overall passing rate to 99.93 percent.

“The passing rate dropped 0.04 percent from 99.97 percent in 2010, but it was only a slight decrease and our passing rate remains much better than other regions,” Bali Education Agency head Ida Bagus Anom said.

— JP/Ni Komang Erviani