KUCHING, Nov 18: Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuching Simon Poh believes the Education Ministry’s scheduling of the 2021 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination for certain subjects on Fridays and Sundays in March 2022 was a practical decision made in the best interests of students and schools.
He noted the rationale for the decision to hold SPM exams on Fridays and Sundays is to ensure that the new 2022 academic school term can be smoothened out while the schooling schedule for non-public examination students is not affected.
“Personally, I support this well-thought through schedule in view of the pandemic.
“This is a good solution for this year’s SPM exam for the common good of our schools and students, which ultimately is what the school education system is meant for.
“For school administration, this timing for SPM exam period enables the exam to be completed during school breaks and thus will not disrupt regular class when school reopens as all SPM exams would have been completed,” he said.
Poh added that although both Fridays and Sundays were used for the 2021 SPM examination, the subjects tested on Sundays are elective subjects and not major papers.
He noted the reason for compressing the SPM examination to 19 days was to ensure it fits into the March school break and thus will not disrupt the school term and timing for other classes.
Poh said the written SPM examination has to be compressed to March 2-20 to enable schools to reopen for other students by March 21, 2022 after the practical exams are completed in February 2022.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has scheduled the written papers of the SPM 2021 examination to be held from March 2 to March 20, 2022.
Within the dates, there tests scheduled for March 6 (Sunday), March 11 (Friday), March 13 (Sunday), March 18 (Friday) and March 20 (Sunday).
Adding on, Poh hoped the Education Department can clarify the reasons ti schedule examinations on Fridays and Sundays to dispel any misrepresentation over the decision. — DayakDaily
