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PETALING JAYA: More than 40,000 people have signed a growing online petition calling for upcoming SPM exams to be canceled or postponed in light of the difficulties faced by students across the country.
The petition’s organizers cite the toll the pandemic has taken on students’ mental health, the effect of the postponement on their academic schedule, and the threat of transmission during PMS or prep classes as reasons for their request.
In their statement, the organizers said that with the daily “skyrocketing” cases, they believe the government was putting students at unnecessary risk.
The SPM exams are scheduled for February 22nd and nearly half a million students are expected to sit for the exams. In 2019, a total of 416,416 students took the exam and 400,445 are registered to take it in the 2020 cohort.
“We believe that children are the future of the country and no one has the right to make them pay the price of the ‘recent disaster’,” they said.
“We understand that the decision of the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education) to extend the dates for the PMS examination came after much deliberation, but we believe that it is not a wise decision, considering that there is so much uncertainty and unpredictability with this pandemic” .
They pointed to the students’ mental health as a top concern, as the stress of the pandemic and the upcoming exams severely affected many.
“We have received hundreds of comments from students, mostly saying that they are mentally impaired and can no longer focus on their studies. This is very concerning, and some mentioned that they had suicidal thoughts. “
Instead of the formal SPM exam, the petitioners suggest using past results or mock exam performance to generate an expected score, or allowing students to take the SPM during the period generally reserved for the SPM Ulangan (repeat exam) to allow have students maintain their existing entry times.
They said that with the current postponement dates, candidates could miss out on early college entries and graduate later than planned from pre-college courses.
“With the deferred SPM exam, students can only apply for August 2021 admissions (for A-level courses), which means they can only apply for universities in 2023 (instead of mid-2022).”
They said that while they understand the Ministry of Education’s concerns about maintaining the fairness of the exam given that roughly 15% have yet to sit for mock exams, the circumstances of the year have already jeopardized fairness.
“In our opinion, the fairness of this exam has already been compromised, as students have not received the same length and quality of instruction.”
“Therefore, an absolutely fair solution for this exam is a pipe dream, not to mention that postponing exam dates only for red zone areas opens up the possibility of exam questions being leaked.”
The petition has received vocal support from students online, with some wondering why their voices are not being heard.
“We are human too !!” said one, “Why is politics more concerned than the health problems of students? Enough voices are being raised, but sadly the authorities are ignoring them. “
Another said that “as a student in Malaysia, keeping up with the curriculum without the help of a teacher or a school environment has been difficult and has put this year’s SPM candidates at a serious disadvantage.”
Those interested can sign the petition here.
