Compulsory pass in SPM English, Practical Science Examination postponed

A compulsory pass in English in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, scheduled to come into force next year has been postponed, announced the Education Ministry Examination Syndicate.

In a statement here today, it said the decision was to enable teachers, students, as well as other related parties, more time to get prepared.

It also announced the Science Practical Examinations for Physics (Code 4531); Chemistry (Code 4541), Biology (Code 4551) and Additional Science (Code 4561), which was scheduled for implementation for SPM next year, had also been postponed.

"The postponement is aimed at ensuring school facilities and laboratory equipment nationwide meet the standards set before the examination could be carried out.

The proposal to have compulsory pass in English in the SPM was made in 2013 by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when he was education minister.

He was quoted as saying the condition was in line with the implementation of the second wave of the Malaysian Education Blueprint.

In 2012, Muhyiddin had announced that the proposal would also introduce a Centralised Practical Science Examination in SPM as one of the 15 recommendations to increase the number of science stream students in schools.

The 15 were part of the 61 recommendations submitted to the Studying Committee on 60:40 Science/Technical:Arts Stream Policy on Feb 2, 2012, chaired by the then-education director-general, Tan Sri Abd Ghafar Mahmud.

The Centralised Science Practical Examination which should have been implemented this year, had earlier been postponed.

"The education ministry hopes all related parties have been informed of the postponement," said the statement.