Zaki Azmi heads panel to review SOP for exams

TUMPAT: The government yesterday announced the appointment of former chief justice Tun Zaki Azmi (pix) to head an independent nine-member panel to review the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate's (MES) standard operating procedure (SOP) for public examinations.
Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Zaki had accepted the appointment following the decision made on Monday.
He also said the names of the other members of the panel, officially known as the Independent Panel to Study the Management of Public Examinations handled by the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate, will be announced today or tomorrow.
"We have provided the terms of reference to the panel," he told reporters at the home of Mat Razi Mat Ail, the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Pengkalan Kubor state by-election, in Kampung Simpangan here.
The panel was appointed following leaks in the UPSR Science and English examination papers last week.
Following the leaks, the government suspended MES director Dr Na'imah Ishak and deputy director (operations) Dr Wan Ilias Wan Salleh until after the completion of the investigation.
The police also arrested seven men, among them a headmaster and three teachers, to help in the probe.
Muhyiddin said the panel will be given three months to improve the operations of the syndicate and the handling of public examinations.
"The review involves verification of the examination papers, the security process and the SOP," he said.
He also said the panel can look at the best practices in other countries. – Bernama