Nanyang Siang Pau, Editorial, 02-10-2014

The second Minister of Education Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh had mentioned on September 30 that under the Private Higher Educational Institutions Act 1996, only the actual SPM results were allowed when enrolling for matriculation, pre-university and diploma courses which are approved by the Ministry.

He said, the ruling was not something new, the ministry had clearly stipulated this when approving the setting up of the private higher educational institutions.

On the same day, Education Ministry issued a statement saying that it had never allowed the students to use the forecast results of SPM (Malaysian Certificate of Education) to enroll into private higher educational institutions.

On September 29, MP for Serdang Ong Kian Ming had issued a statement urging the government to immediately withdraw the restriction on not allowing SPM forecast results to be used for entry into pre-university and foundation programs in private higher education institutions so that the student’s admission for the institutions will not be affected.

On September 30, when commenting on the issue, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong also hoped that the Education Ministry would review the relevant policy. He said the enrolment can be terminated if the actual SPM results do not match the minimum requirements
Anyway, Wee Ka Siong said since the measure will only be implemented next year, he will bring up the matter to the cabinet if necessary.

Idris claimed that the ministry had never allowed the use of the forecast results as the lowest requirement to enroll into private colleges is in fact not true, because over the past years the private higher education institutions have been accepting the forecast results without the interference of the government. If the government really does not recognize the forecast results, the only reason is because the policy has never been enforced.

It is also a fact that the recognition of the forecast results by the private institutions has never caused any major problem. Wee Ka Siong had made an analogy by saying that “If over the past 30 years the medicine you took did not cause any side effect, why do you want to change the medicine?”

However, it is inevitable that the controversy will still be going on, and the crux of the controversy is actually laid on the standard of the trial exam.

The SPM trial exam is not uniformity throughout the country, the exam questions were set by the Malaysian School Headmasters Council (MPSM), but the school authority has also got the right to set questions.

MPSM normally will delegate the job to the state council, and thus the questions set will not be the same, but the trial exam will be conducted simultaneously.

For those which have chosen to set the question papers on their own (they are normally large schools), they are free to decide on the date and time of the exam, but they will have to follow the guidelines set by MPSM on paper marking.

The SPM is a unified exam, but not the trial exam, thus the standard of the trial exam will inevitably be varied, this is the biggest controversy on whether the forecast results should be accepted as the lowest qualification to enroll into the private institutions.

On the other hand, it is understood that some schools have opted to set their own questions to avoid leakage, because if the questions are leaked they will not be able to measure the student’s aptitude in facing the actual exam.

Original Source: 南洋社论：承认预考成绩的关键