The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) has called on the Education Ministry to do away with the resit of the English, Maths and Tamil UPSR papers as it is causing unnecessary pressure on some half a million Year 6 pupils.PAGE chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said the decision by the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate (MES) to have students resit the papers had disregarded the circumstances and had failed to take into account the negative impact on the pupils.
"It is unacceptable to UPSR pupils and parents who have no choice, no say, and are forced to accept a resit of the papers due to the shortcomings of the MES and the greed of certain people," she said at a press conference today.
"We urge MES and the ministry to accept the UPSR papers that have been sat which are English, Mathematics and Tamil and have the pupils sit for only Science since they have yet to sit for the paper."
She added that the ministry had shown a lack of compassion by not looking more deeply into the effects, stress and pressure that have been forced upon the students.
Noor Azimah, however, stressed that Page was not condoning cheating by making this recommendation but said they were concerned with the emotional toll the re-sit was taking on the Primary Six pupils.
"The children are traumatised, angry and they have already given their best. It was only a small number who were involved in the cheating.
"Besides, it is UPSR. Even if they fail, they all go to Form 1 anyway. It would not make a difference unlike the SPM and STPM," she added.
The first two leaks were found in the Science and English papers. Students had already sat for the English paper when the leak was announced. They will now re-sit the English paper and take the Science examination for the first time on September 30.
On Monday, the Education Ministry announced that pupils would also have to retake the Mathematics and Tamil language papers on October 9.
Both papers were found to have been leaked on September 21, said director-general of Education Datuk Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof.
Since the leak of the English and Science papers were revealed on September 10, police have arrested a total of 14 people to assist in investigations, including 12 teachers.
Noor Azimah lauded the ministry's swift action in arresting the suspected culprits but added that it should make known the steps it has taken to ensure that such leaks do not happen in future national examinations, including the PT3, SPM and STPM.
"Have we reached a level where our morals are so low that dishonesty becomes our culture?
"The Education Ministry must win back the trust of the parents. When it affects the future of their children, parents have long memories," she added.
Both education ministers Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the deputy prime minister and Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh have since issued public apologies over the leaks.
On September 12, Muhyiddin announced the suspension of Examinations Syndicate director Dr Na'imah Ishak and deputy director (operations) Dr Wan Ilias Wan Salleh with immediate effect.
However, this has been refuted by the ministry's secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Madinah Mohamad who said that they were not suspended but just re-assigned to other duties unrelated to the Examinations Syndicate to enable an independent committee to carry out its investigation. – September 24, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dont-force-re-sit-of-english-tamil-and-math-papers-urges-parent-lobby#sthash.lxTJvJyw.dpuf
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