THE Ministry of Education (MOE) has failed to address the concerns of COVID-19 spreading at examination centres and what the Government plans to do about it, said Bukit Gasing state assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran.
This is despite the announcement from the MOE itself, indicating that SPM 2020 will go on as planned come Feb 22, 2021.
“With almost 400,000 students sitting for SPM 2020, there is bound to be a substantial impact on the exam timetable if the standard operating procedures (SOPs) by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for isolating close contacts and disinfection of premises are applied to the students, invigilators and schools,” said Rajiv.
That being said, Rajiv hopes that both ministries will be able to come up with a solution for an alternative evaluation/grading system, similar to the methods that have already been adopted in other countries.
Additionally, Rajiv suggested for the MOE to use the SPM 2020 trial results as the actual results, allowing schools that initially were not able to complete the trial exams to do so.
Alternatively, the MOE should also be more inclusive to those who were unable to complete their school year by considering the option of allowing them to take the overall academic curriculum starting Form 4.
“This is to ensure that consistently-well performing students do not fall behind just because they did not have the right technological tools,” Rajiv explained.
“I strongly urge MOE to look into the safety and practicality for the sake of our future generation. The health and education future of some 400,000 students are in their hands,” he added. – Jan 13, 2021
