JOHOR BARU: The Education Ministry does not want the Election Commission to use secondary schools as polling centres in the upcoming state election as it could interrupt the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.
Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said he will formally write to the EC on the matter soon.
"I have received complaints from teachers recently regarding the matter. They are concerned that if these schools are used as polling centres, they would have to rearrange the settings in the classrooms for the examination once the election is over.
"We have not received any application from the EC on the use of schools as polling centres, but we have decided that we do not want secondary schools to be used. We have no problem if they want to use primary schools," said Radzi.
He was speaking to the media after attending an engagement session with educators and Parent Teacher Association from Kota Iskandar here.
Polling for the Johor state election has been fixed for March 12, while the SPM written examinations have been scheduled between March 3 and 29.
On another matter, Radzi said the 2021 SPM examination will continue as scheduled.
"We are looking as how we conducted the examination last year where it ran smoothly when we come up with comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOP).
"At that time, the SPM candidates were not yet vaccinated. This year, almost 90 per cent of the candidates have been vaccinated.
"So, based on our experience in 2020 and considering all the measures that we have taken, I am confident the SPM examination this year will run smoothly and safely," said Radzi.
There have been calls by parents and candidates for the examination to be postponed due to the rising number of new Covid-19 infection recorded on the country recently.