NUTP wants ministry to explain delay in reporting leaks in Maths and Tamil papers

The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) said the Education Ministry had made a mockery of the UPSR examinations. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 23, 2014.

The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has accused the Education Ministry of making a mockery of the UPSR examinations, asking the ministry why it took so long to determine that the Mathematics and Tamil language papers had also been leaked.

Its president Hashim Adnan said that 13 days had passed since the Year Six pupils sat for the UPSR Maths paper on September 10.

"They have made a joke out of it, a mockery. After 13 days, then only they say that the papers were leaked. How is that possible?" he asked.

The ministry yesterday announced that UPSR candidates were now required to resit their Mathematics and Tamil language papers on October 9, after both papers were found to have been leaked.

Director-general of Education Datuk Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said the Malaysian Examination Syndicate (MES) had confirmed that both papers were leaked on September 21.

The ministry’s announcement came after Kuala Lumpur police confirmed on Sunday that MES officers had lodged reports about the leak of the UPSR Tamil and Mathematics papers.

This follows an outcry ten days ago over leaks in the English and Science papers after the syndicate announced that pupils would have to resit those papers on September 30

Hashim, however, took the ministry to task for the delay in reporting the incident, saying that the latest leaks and decision to resit the papers would cause stress to the students, their parents and the teachers involved in the examinations.

"It is not only about 2 or 3 people. We're talking about 500,000 students plus their parents and teachers. It will affect more than a million people.

"The NUTP also feels that there should not be a resit of the papers because it has taken them so long to report the latest leaks," he said.

Not only was it unfair to the Year Six pupils who had already sat for the papers and who were not involved in the leaks, it was also a waste of time, money and resources, Hashim said.

"Enough is enough. The students have already gone through some stress when they realised they had to resit the English and Science papers, and now this."

The NUTP president also censured Khair for promising that there would not be any more leaks of examination papers in the future, asking how the D-G planned to guarantee that.

"He can give all sorts of promises. But we have to remember, the process involves hundreds of people. Those who handle those papers… they can open it anytime.

"So on what basis is he promising such a thing?" he asked.

Khair, in apologising over the incident, promised that the leaks would not be repeated, adding that security when dealing with exam papers would also be tightened.

"I give my word that such unfortunate incidents will not happen again," he was quoted as saying.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim also asked if Khair or the education minister would resign in the event of further leaks.

"So in making that promise, will he resign if it does happen again, especially with the PT3 and SPM just around the corner? Can we see them taking responsibility over this?"

Noor Azimah, who had previously called the whole incident "shameful", said she wouldn't be surprised if parents now opted for their children to take the O-Levels instead of SPM following the leak.

"We are supposed to transform not deform."

However, she added that although the ministry had embarrassed itself over the leaks, it had decided to do the "right thing" by admitting its mistake.

"Obviously, in the last 12 days, they were trying to debate whether they should embarrass themselves some more after the English and Science papers were leaked.

"This is a question of honesty and integrity. So they have decided to acknowledge the fact that they have erred and accept the consequences," she said.

- TMI