KUALA LUMPUR: Slightly over 2,000 schools have completed their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) trial exams, as Covid-19 forces schools to shut nationwide for the remainder of the school term.
Education director-general Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim said 85 per cent or 2,004 of 2,350 secondary schools had conducted the SPM trial exams, while another 346 schools would hold them when school reopens next year.
"The 15 per cent of secondary schools are located mostly in states that had implemented the Conditional Movement Control Order much earlier, which include Sabah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.
"I believe these schools can schedule the trial exams in time, and make preparations for the real exam," she said during a media briefing at the ministry here today.
Habibah said trial exams were conducted to gauge a student's preparedness, and its results could be used in applications or interviews for certain tertiary courses.
She however did not disclose the performance of schools with completed trial exams, and said the ministry had conducted analysis and identified the states and subjects most affected by the school closure.
"One of the ministry's efforts is to conduct a performance dialogue session by month-end to see what can be done to help."
SPM examinations have been postponed from Feb 22 to March 25, involving 400,445 candidates from the 2020 cohort.
This was the second time the examinations had been postponed. It was originally set for Nov 16 this year, and was moved to Jan 6, 2021.
Apart from SPM examinations, the Sijil Vokasional Malaysia, Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia and Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia exams had also been put off to next year.
On suggestions to send students sitting for SPM and STPM to hostels to undergo face-to-face learning sessions with teachers, Habibah said the ministry had decided against this, prioritising the health and safety of students and teachers.
"We have thought of this (suggestion), but according to CMCO standard operating procedures, the movement of students and teachers to schools are not allowed.
"Therefore, we have decided to adhere to the SOPs for the sake of the students' health and safety."
She said as an educator, she hoped that teaching and learning (PdP) activities continue not just for the sake of exams, adding that PdP must go on whether schools open or close.
Habibah explained students in Form Two and Three would have home-based learning once the 2021 school term starts in January, to make way for two batches of form five students in the 2020 and 2021 cohort.
"This will give more flexibility to the school administration to arrange scheduling , and to make sure that we can still apply physical distancing while ensuring that there is enough space and available resources.
"Students entering Form One next year cannot have home-based learning as teachers would need to be acquainted with their students face-to-face," she said.
On 3M (reading, writing, counting) skills for younger children, Habibah said teachers would need to reassess these skills in their pupils once schools reopen before continuing their usual PdP activities.
Habibah added that the pandemic had made this year a challenging one for all, including over five million students and more than 500,000 educators and Education Ministry staff, who were also badly affected by the outbreak.
"With this large amount, any plans or decision must be thoroughly scrutinised."
She added that the ministry had a "live dashboard" to monitor the Covid-19 situation among students, teachers and staff.
This dashboard, she said, would provide daily vital reports including school attendance, or whether a student, teacher or staff member had tested positive, is a patient under investigation (PUI) or is being quarantined.
Habibah revealed that 1,038 people were currently under quarantine, while more than 370 people were PUI.
"It is with this that the ministry has decided to close schools in all states, not just states affected by the CMCO," she said.
Schools nationwide will remain closed until the end of the school year, either on Dec 17, for schools in category A, or Dec 18 for schools in category B.
"The ministry hopes that our decision (to close schools) can help break the Covid-19 chain, and enable us to reopen schools in 2021 and conduct SPM exams for the 2020 cohort next year."
Habibah reminded that the school closure should not be considered as a school holiday, adding that the ministry had issued guidelines for teachers to continue PdP activities at home.
Schools will reopen for face-to-face learning for children in primary school and Forms One, Four, Five and Six on Jan 20, 2021.
Students in Forms Two and Three will conduct home-based learning starting Jan 20, 2021, and will return to schools physically beginning March 8, 2021.