Press Digest - The SPM Chinese Language paper is too tough

PETALING JAYA: Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid agreed that the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) Chinese Language paper is tough.
According to a report in Sin Chew Daily today, the minister attributed the relative lower percentage of candidates obtaining distinctions (A+, A and A-) over the years to the high marks set for distinctions and the questions being overly tough.
He said the ministry will direct its officers to take note of the low percentage of SPM Chinese Language "A" scorers as well as the national-type Chinese primary school pupils' relative poorer performance in Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and review the matter.
Malaysian Chinese Language Council president Datuk Eddie Heng Hong Chai told the daily that Mahdzir had promised to direct the officers concerned to take note of the matter and to submit the relevant information to the deputy education director-general for discussion.
Addressing matters raised by council members who called on him recently, the minister also said he was taking the issues seriously and would find a solution.
The council members showed Mahdzir the statistics of Chinese Language "A" scorers for the past seven years and compared them with the number of "A" scorers for the Tamil Language paper over the same period, Heng said adding that the minister had, on principle, agreed to a meeting between the council and the Examinations Board to discuss the matter.
Heng pointed out that between 2010 and 2015, the percentage of Tamil Language "A" scorers had increased from 21.9% to 31.5% whereas the percentage of "A" scorers for Chinese Language paper had dropped from 13.2% to 12.4%.
"If one looks at the 2015 SPM results, the percentage of "A" scores for other subjects such as Bahasa Malaysia (24.1%), English (14.3%) and Arabic Language (26.6%) were all higher than that for Chinese Language," said Heng.
He said the council was worried that SPM students might avoid taking Chinese Language because of the difficulty in scoring high marks in the subject.