KUALA LUMPUR: SPM candidates are allowed to take Bahasa Melayu as a single paper in the SPM exams as long they have permission from the National Examinations Board, said Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching today.
“You just need to get approval from the board to be allowed to take just the Malay paper,” she told the Dewan Rakyat during question time.
She was replying to Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam-BN), who asked if the government would make SPM an open examination, where candidates would be allowed to be tested for a single subject.
Wee argued that SPM should be made an open exam.
He said according to the current system, all first-time SPM candidates must take six core subjects, including the history paper.
Wee said Pakatan Harapan is not fulfilling its general election promise to recognise other A-level equivalent certificates for entry into public universities.
In the manifesto, PH promised to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) as a qualifying requirement for pupils to enter public universities, with the condition that they had received a credit for Bahasa Melayu in SPM.
The UEC is taken by pupils in independent Chinese secondary schools, while SPM is the public school-leaving exam taken by form five pupils in national secondary schools.
A credit in the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper and a pass in history are required for enrolment in public universities.
