Chong: Scrap postponed 2020 SPM exam, award cert to students based on merit

Chong showing the letter he had faxed to the Education Ministry on his proposal to do away with the 2020 SPM exam.

KUCHING (Jan 4): Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen has proposed that the 2020 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination be done away with since it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman said the Ministry of Education (MoE) should instead issue the SPM certificate to candidates based on merit.

The SPM exam for Form Five students was supposed to be held at the end of last year but was postponed to the end of next month.

“The education minister should just do away with the 2020 SPM examinations which were postponed to the first quarter of this year.

“The SPM certificate should instead be issued to the students based on their past school examinations, course work and or mock examination results assessed by their teachers,” he said in a statement today.

He said he had faxed a letter, dated today, to MoE on his proposal.

“For the sake of the students, I hope the minister of education will make a quick and favourable decision so that they can end their long, uncertain and stressful wait,” he said.

Chong felt it was still unsafe for SPM examinations to be held in the first quarter of this year, judging by the number of new daily Covid-19 infections.

He said the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), enforced under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, had been extended to March 31 this year.

“In fact, we are now in a far-worse-off Covid-19 pandemic situation than the time last year when the original SPM examination dates were scheduled,” he said.

Chong believed that the affected students had been put through a long wait and stress after the examination was postponed.

Malaysia yesterday recorded 1,704 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths, bringing the total number of positive cases in the country to 119,077.

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