`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Friday, September 12, 2014

Year 6 pupils discouraged after UPSR exam leaks, say parents

Year 6 pupils have been told that they have to resit two UPSR papers at the end of the month.  – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, September 12, 2014. Year 6 pupils have been told that they have to resit two UPSR papers at the end of the month. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, September 12, 2014. 
Fuming parents have said that the leaks in two examination papers have left their children bitterly discouraged and demotivated as they had been looking forward to finishing their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) exams following a year of studying.
Family plans and holidays have been cancelled, they say, after the Education Ministry decided to postpone the Science paper and let the majority of nearly 500,000 pupils retake two English papers after they discovered the leaks – the first for national examinations at the primary school level.
"She's very disappointed. She had worked very hard as did her friends from school. She keeps asking me why did this happen. What do I tell her?" said a mother, who only wanted to be known as Rachel.
V. James said the whole experience has left his daughter disappointed at not being able to finish her exams yesterday as she was supposed to.
"It's not about having to retake the exam. But it is about the mental preparation. She's distraught about it. The fact remains that she has to force herself to study for a longer time.
"Our plans to go on holidays have been put on hold or might be cancelled even," he added.
Tan, a 45-year-old mother of a Year 6 pupil, was also angry that the family’s holiday plans had to be cancelled.
"How do I tell my son that his holidays have to be cancelled because some irresponsible people decided to leak some exam papers?
"He had been looking forward to that as a reward for studying so hard."
On Wednesday, the Education Ministry announced that the Science paper would be postponed to September 30 following leaks.
Then yesterday, it said that the English paper that the pupils sat for earlier in the day would be cancelled over the same reason and pupils would have to resit the paper on September 30 as well.
The retake of the English papers, however, will not affect those from vernacular schools. More than 470,000 Year 6 pupils are affected by the leaks in around 8,000 schools nationwide.
More than 50,000 exam invigilators are also involved, and Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said that the papers had to be rescheduled to as late as September 30 in order to handle the massive logistics involved.
The parents also lashed out at the Education Ministry and the Examination Board, saying that the incident has caused their children to lose faith in the education system.
"Integrity is sorely lacking in the Examination Board. Where is the supervision of the papers? I have to say the ministry has failed in its duties," said Rachel.
"How do these children, after the experience they have had, trust the examination system?"
Another parent, Meor Yusof Aziddin, said his 12-year-old cried when told he had to resit the Science and English papers.
“Don’t they (officials) know this is bad for a 12-year-old’s emotion? Delaying the exam until September 30… don’t they understand how children’s emotion is affected by this?” Meor said.
Tan expressed doubts over the ministry's handling of other more important examinations following the UPSR fiasco, saying that it was clear that they had not taken the examination seriously.
"This is only a primary school examination and they bungled. Weren't the papers kept securely?"
The years of leaks in examination papers, said James, showed that the ministry had a flaw in the exam-managing system.
"That is a fact. And it is not just the UPSR. We have seen this happening with PMR and SPM as well. There have always been such stories, so this is not the first time," he said.
"It happened but they did not want to admit it. But now, it became so widespread that they have no choice but to do so."
Rachel said she has told her daughter to accept the incident as a bitter experience and look forward to her upcoming Science and English papers.
"But it's hard for her, I know. She keeps asking me why couldn't these people work hard instead of trying to cheat.”
- TMI

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.