Representatives of various educational streams welcome government’s intention to make BM
History compulsory in SPM
PUTRAJAYA: Representatives of schools of various educational streams in the country welcome the government’s intention to make it mandatory to take the Malay language and History subjects in the Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM).
MADANI Government spokesman Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was stated by Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.
“The Minister of Education has announced that this week a meeting was held with representatives from various parties, representatives from international schools, from Maahad Tahfiz schools and also from the Malaysian Chinese School Management Board (Dong Zong) to raise the issue of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
“So, the Minister of Education announced that the meeting went very well and there was coordination in terms of what the government intends to implement, which was well received by all parties present,” he said in a weekly press conference here yesterday.
Fahmi, who is also the Communications Minister, said that following this, the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) will hold a meeting with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) next week, to examine aspects of entry routes to public higher education institutions (IPTA), based on the requirements for the two subjects in schools.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when launching the National Education Plan (RPN) 2026-2035 on Jan 20, announced that schools of various educational streams, including international schools, religious schools and schools in the UEC stream, were required to take the Malay language and History subjects in SPM.
The RPN is led jointly by the Ministry of Higher Education through the Malaysian Higher Education Plan 2026-2035 and the Ministry of Education through the Malaysian Education Plan 2026-2035.
In another development, Fahmi said the Cabinet would seek further clarification from the Ministry of Education regarding the issue of the estimated cost of building a classroom increasing to RM280,000 to RM520,000.
He said that although the matter was not discussed in yesterday’s Cabinet Meeting, the issue of school infrastructure was an important matter that the Prime Minister emphasised.
“This was not discussed, but in fact this infrastructure issue is an important issue, in fact the Prime Minister has previously stated the government’s intention to ensure that these classrooms can be provided using IBS (Industrialized Building System),” he said.
The media previously reported that the estimated cost of constructing a building block including classrooms, stairs, corridors and toilets for the period 2021 to 2026 had increased to between RM280,000 to RM520,000, compared to between RM180,000 to RM250,000 for the period 2016 to 2020.
— BERNAMA
