PUTRAJAYA APRIL 15: The Ministry of Education has cancelled the Primary School Evaluation Test (UPSR) and the “Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) due to COVID-19 pandemic.
However the SPM, STPM and STAM examinations are being postponed to year 2021.
Minister of Education, Dr. Mohd. Radzi Md. Jidin said, the ministry will introduce new criteria to assess UPSR and PT3 students’ capabilities that does not only confined to their study performance.
“The new criteria will be used as a guideline for students’ entry into boarding schools and technical schools,” Mohd. Radzi said in a special press conference here today
Regarding the STPM and SPM candidates, the second semester will be changed to August and the third semester is pushed to the first quarter of 2021.
The minister added, these changes will affect the entry into the institute of higher education for foundation level, matriculation and diploma that will be on July while for degree courses will be opened on September/October 2021.
Mohd. Radzi also emphasized, even though the MCO has been enforced since March 18, the process of teaching and learning still continues as scheduled.
On a question of when the schools will be opened, the minister said, the ministry will make sure the situation is really safe and free from COVID-19. It depends on the advice of the Ministry of Health and all parties concerned.
“We will inform the parents two weeks before the schools start again where five million students and more than 500,000 teachers are involved. The ministry will also come up with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be followed by the schools, teachers and students to ensure the safety and the health of everybody is secured.
“When the schools reopen, only the SPM, STPM, STAM and international examinations’ students are allowed to attend schools,” he said.
This decision he said is not only applicable to government schools but also to private owned schools in the country, – Malaysia World News
