LETTERS – I read with deep concern the demand from some quarters for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2021 exam to continue despite the number of cases surging from the Omicron wave in the country.
This virus wave not just affect among students but also affect their teachers, parents and guardians, including those above the age of 50.
To continue our national exam, are we supposed to put these high risk individuals’ lives at risk?
Secondly, we are dealing with an extremely infectious variant that could shut down the whole exam hall, even if only one or two students have been infected.
The students, teachers and parents would then have to quarantine themselves. These students also would be missing the exams regardless.
Ironically, some parents are requesting that their infected children be allowed to sit for the exam while the invigilators wear full personal protective equipment!
Such is the obsession to get over and done with SPM 2021 rather than sitting the exam in the best state of mind.
A better option would be for the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate to reschedule SPM 2021 Phase 2 Sometime in May or June after the Omicron wave has subsided. So, the student could sit for the exam safely.
For the overwhelming number of students, their entrance to universities and colleges will take place in September 2022. So, receiving the results in August 2022 would not affect them too much.
However, for those candidates and parents who insist that SPM 2021 should be conducted as scheduled, they should be allowed to sit for the exam this March with high risk teachers not involved in the SPM 2021 Phase 1 operations.
For candidates adamant about getting over SPM, they should be prepared to be entrusted with additional responsibilities. These include conducting Covid-19 tests every day before starting the exam and they should quarantine themselves if one of their schoolmates has been infected.
Forcing students to sit for SPM 2021 during an extremely infectious phase of the Covid-19 virus would lead to a huge drop in grades that would affect the trajectory of many students for the rest of their lives.
This is especially unfair for Malaysian students when students from other countries are getting inflated grades instead from their teachers.
Source: MNMI (NST.COM.MY)
