Senior Minister: New SOPs for exams finalised, central assessment schedule must follow MOE’s calendar

KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 — The special ministerial meeting chaired by Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has agreed to the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) proposal on the guidelines among which school administrators should arrange their central assessment schedules at a suitable time.

Ismail said among the guidelines agreed to include requiring school administrators to arrange the assessment schedule based on the suitability of the examination calendar as issued by the ministry.

“Teachers must plan the implementation of the central assessment based on students’ readiness to be assessed and reschedule the assessment if any of the students are found to have Covid-19 related symptoms,” Ismail said in a statement today.

He added that teachers must also emphasise the aspects of social distancing, hygiene and safety when the assessment is carried out.

“For the invigilation of public examinations, the number of additional rooms to be used must be taken into account for the examinations when social distancing is implemented.

“Any examination candidate displaying serious symptoms requires the school to contact the District Health Office to seek advice on further action to be taken, as well as inform the parents or guardians,” Ismail said.

The chief invigilator is also required to ensure all invigilation of public examinations within examination rooms and outside of it also take into account social distancing, hygiene and safety.

Last month, the Education Ministry announced the rescheduled dates of major examinations, with the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), to be held from January 6 to February 9, next year.

The SPM exam was supposed to be held from November 16 to December 7 this year.

The new Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) dates, which were scheduled for November, have also been rescheduled to August 12-18 this year for Semester 2, and March 1-9 next year for Semester 3.

The Semester 1 examination (2021 cohort) is moved to February 22-25 next year.

Meanwhile, the oral and written examinations for SPM Ulangan (SPMU) which were scheduled to be held from June 23 to 30 this year, have been rescheduled to August 17 to September 30 this year.