Leaked exam papers put dent on ministry, exam syndicate

KUCHING: Incidents of leakage in public examination questions are nothing new and will continue to put a dent in the Education Ministry and Malaysian Examinations Syndicate’s credibility until swift and stern actions are taken against the culprit.

State Democratic Action Party (DAP) deputy chairperson Christina Chiew believed there were many unreported cases of examination question leakage each year and that the only way to stop such incidents from repeating was for authorities to come down strong on individuals involved in the leak.

She said the matter could cause the public to question the credibility of the Education Ministry and examinations syndicate.

She added that as long as there was no credibility among all the parties involved in preparing and safeguarding public examination papers, including accountability, this kind of incident would continue to happen.

“Leakage of question paper is not a new issue.

“In fact, a report was made last year after questions from the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) Additional Mathematics paper was reportedly leaked.

“As usual, the relevant authorities would be asked to conduct a full length investigation and take legal action.

“Year-in and year-out there is leakage in public examinations but somehow everything will go back to square one after some time.

“This only proves that no swift actionwas taken against the culprit before,” Chiew, who is also Batu Kawah assemblywoman, told a press conference held at DAP headquarters here yesterday.

She was commenting on the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) Science examination papers which were found to have been leaked.

The sitting for the UPSR Science paper has been postponed to Sept 30 after the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate discovered that the Science 018, 028, 038 examination papers, scheduled for 8.15am to 9.30am on Sept 11, have been leaked.

The contents of the papers were spread through social media. Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh took to Twitter to apologise to students and parents for the leak.

Chiew said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his deputy must be held responsible.

Vernacular school pupils are not affected as they sit for different English papers.

Idris was reported as saying that the new date for the examination would be announced soon, although the ministry is aiming for Sept 30 which is the same day as the rescheduled Science papers.

A total of 473,175 pupils are sitting for the UPSR at 8,299 examination centres nationwide this year.

-Borneo post