ON THE first day of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Natasha Nabila Muhamad Nasir's grandfather went into hospital for surgery.

Natasha, who was very close to him, shuttled between the hospital and home during the period.

'He taught me a prayer to say before the exam. I would say it before each paper,' she said. Her grandfather, who had a stomach ulcer, died at the end of last month.

He would have been proud of his grandchild, who not only aced all her papers, but topped the country, setting a record score in the process.

The St Hilda's Primary pupil's score of 294 topped the previous high of 292 set in 1993 by Justin Lau, now 26 and a postgraduate student in architecture at the National University of Singapore.

A Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board spokesman described Natasha's score as 'outstanding' as it was a good six points ahead of the next highest score of 288. The score is calculated based on how a pupil performs relative to all others who sat for the exam.

Besides Natasha, 15 pupils scored 286 or higher this year.

Yesterday, the 12-year-old girl with the neat braids and shy smile said: 'I would like to dedicate my results to my grandfather. Before I sat for the PSLE, he prayed for me.'

Flanked by her mother and sister Natalia, eight, also from St Hilda's, Natasha was composed as reporters flung questions at her. In the background, her father took in everything with a camcorder.

Natasha had been worried she could not get four A*s in the exam.

But although she found the science paper 'tedious' and had no time to check it, she aced it.

Natasha, who plays the piano and violin and is in the Scrabble club, was formerly at Gongshang Primary but went to St Hilda's in Primary 4 after she got into the Gifted Education Programme (GEP).

She already has a place in Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and plans to be a paediatrician.

Her parents had left nothing to chance in raising Natasha, who was reading on her own by the time she was 21/2 years old.

'When I was pregnant with her, I got hold of books to read to her. At first, I thought...it wouldn't work,' said her mother, Ms Zaharah Othman, 44, who quit her job as a flight stewardess after Natasha's birth to give her 'quality time'.

Together with her husband, Mr Muhamad Nasir Atan, 47, a Singapore Airlines technician, she would make time to see their children's teachers often, said St Hilda's principal, Madam Kew Mee Ying.

'It shows that they are really interested in her work and progress,' she added.

The Education Ministry said that of the 49,817 Primary 6 pupils who sat for the exam, some 48,665, or 97.7 per cent of the pupils, did well enough to move on to secondary school.

Natasha is the second Malay pupil in two years to top the PSLE. Adil Hakeem Mohamad Rafee from Rosyth School scored 282, in 2005.

When contacted, Mr Imram Mohamed, chairman of the Association of Muslim Professionals, said: 'We need these role models like Natasha to motivate other Malay children.'

hoaili@sph.com.sg

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