A total 743 of the 6,668 candidates who sat for the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah Agama (UPSRA) this year in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya obtained 7As in all the subjects.

Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) deputy director (Operations), Yaakob Abdul Rahim, said the percentage of passes this year had increased to 93 from 88.9 last year.

"Another 479 candidates obtained 6As. In general, the results of the UPSRA is better than last year which is a positive indicator for the development of the education system in religious primary schools (SRA)," he said when announcing the results here Tuesday.

Yaakob said the al-Quran subject maintained 100 percent passes for all candidates for the fifth consecutive year, while the percentage for Tajwid and Akhlak, was 95 percent each, Feqah (93 percent), Tauhid and Arabic Language at 91 percent and Sirah (84 percent).

He said the three best overall schools were SRA Al Ghazali, Kepong; SRA AL-Suyuthi, Kampung Pandan and SRA Al-Ghufran, Pinggir Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

The UPSRA was conducted simultaneously in the Federal Territories from Oct 6 to 13.

Meanwhile, Yaakob said JAWI will upgrade two more SRA in the federal capital to Sekolah Integrasi Rendah Agama JAWI (SIRAJ) next year, namely the SRA Abdullah Ibnu Abbas, Pantai Dalam and the SRA Abu Dzar al-Ghifari, Kepong.

"For the first phase this year, two schools will be the pioneers for SIRAJ, namely the SRA Saidina Uthman bin Affan, Bandar Tun Razak and SRA Al-Alusi, Kampung Keramat, involving 350 Year One pupils," he said.

SIRAJ combines the Primary School Standard Curriculum with the Religious Primary School Curriculum and schooling hours are from 7.30am to 4pm. -- Bernama