Pupil With 8as In Spm Denied Scholarship Are There Too Many Straight As Scorers Around

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THIS is not a new lament but one that is growing increasingly louder with applications for scholarships especially competitive.
Self-proclaimed feminist and anti-racist Loretta (@lorettabagg) has shared a case whereby a pupil who scored 8As in his SPM was faced with a number of scholarship rejections, including from the Public Service Department (JPA), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Shell, UEM Group, Yayasan Telekom and Khazanah Nasional Bhd.
Stiff competition among a pool of qualified individuals was cited for the rejections in the post which has garnered 2.2M views, 1.8K likes, 1K shares and 330 comments at the time of writing.

What more could the pupil identified as Sugavaneshwarar SPK Sundram do? All he wanted was a fair crack at furthering his academic journey, the poster exclaimed. It was also pointed out the pupil’s original TikTok post was flooded with racist comments.
The fact that he was only called for a second interview once meant he was not even given a chance to present his suitability with the other organisations.

Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) promises made to the Indian community in its manifesto were also highlighted by the poster who deemed these rejections as proof of systemic bias and failure of the Madani administration in fulfilling its electoral pledges to the Indian community.

One commenter pointed out that the pool of high achievers was significantly larger considering that scoring 8As these days is nothing special anymore. He also chided the poster for continuing to have a “play victim” mentality.

However, there were those who did not believe the system was made to favour Bumiputera pupils. In fact, the reverse is true argued one commenter who claimed that many Bumiputera pupils, too, did not qualify for places in higher academic institutions due to the quota system.

Another commenter shared that she, too, experienced rejection, not once but twice! Both she and her daughter achieved good academic results but it was still not good enough for scholarships or education aids. This happened despite their Bumiputera status.

This was when a commenter argued that it was not systemic bias or prejudices of any sort but rather the extremely limited number of scholarships available that is the issue. He went on to reveal how intense the competition is for scholarships with his sibling having gone through a rigorous selection process.

Echoing this sentiment was another commenter who pointed to the stark reality – over 14,000 pupils scored straight As in SPM last year.
Henceforth, there is simply insufficient scholarships for that number. It was posited that successful candidates need to have more rounded CVs (curriculum vitae) aside from academic excellence. Sporting excellence and extra-curricular pursuits would perhaps help.

Therein perhaps lie the crux of the matter.
First and foremost, there are not enough scholarships available. Could the private sector and GLC (government-linked corporations)-linked organisations do more to provide education opportunities to deserving students?
Secondly, the increasing number of straight As is perhaps indicative of declining exam standards rather than improving students.
This dilution in academic rigour has unfortunately led to heightened expectations from some who thought they may have hit the jackpot with their 8As.
Alas, as the rejections above underline that scoring 8As alone is not enough.
Post script: The poster Loretta was infuriated at the fact that some commenters tagged the PDRM (Riyal Malaysia Police) for having brought up the scholarship woes of Sugavaneshwarar.

She further wondered why there were some 15,000-20,000 scholarships disbursed last year (citing the AI-powered X chatbot @Grok) yet so many top pupils did not receive them. – July 20, 2025

- Focus Malaysia

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