TUARAN: Unlike most of her peers, Clein Jeans Raymond wakes early, before dawn, every weekday to get to school.
The 17-year-old teenager has been enduring walking a long distance to get to her school at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tun Fuad Stephens Kiulu, which is located about six kilometres away from her house in Kampung Mantaranau near here.
Today was no different. Clein woke up at 5am, takes her shower and make all necessary preparations to ensure that she would be on time for the first paper of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
“For the past 11 years, have been taking long walks to school since my primary school days at Sekolah Kebangsaan Pekan Kiulu, which is also located about six kilometres away from my house.
“There are also some other children from the village, who had to endure the same difficulties.
“Nevertheless, the hardship that I am facing right now is a motivation for me to do well for my examination and subsequently improve the lot of my family,” she said.
There are also some of his friends, she said, turned their lengthy walk to school into a form of training before taking part in sport activities such as sprint race and marathon.
Clein said she will try to do her best in the examination as she wanted to become a modern farmer or teacher after completing his studies.
“My father and mother are farmers and both of them work hard to raise me. I want to study hard and get a good job to improve the lot of my family,” she said.
Clein is among 421,706 students nationwide, who are sitting for this year’s SPM examination from today to Dec 13.