KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — The Education Ministry remains adamant that secondary schools will not be used as polling centres during the Johor state election next month.
Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said that using secondary schools as voting centres will only throw all meticulous preparations for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination into disarray.
He added that this current batch of SPM candidates were the ones whose lessons were most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also taken into account were the tables in the examination hall or rooms arranged according to a complete and orderly index, he said, adding that any changes could affect the examination results.
“In total, almost all rooms in schools are used for the SPM examination and on Thursday before polling day, the Mathematics examination has been scheduled, and this will involve all SPM candidates nationwide, including in Johor,” he said in a video uploaded on Facebook yesterday.
He went on to say that there is also the Science paper to consider as it also involves many students, and any changes done for the election will only make rescheduled arrangements more tedious later.
Radzi said this stance is also taken to allow the MOE to arrange new examination dates for students under quarantine.
“It will be the same as last year, if students are unable to sit for the examination due to quarantine, new dates will be given and that is why the seating arrangements are very important and there should not be any changes,” he said.
Radzi, however, said that the ministry has no issues if primary schools were to be used as polling centres.
On Saturday, Radzi said the MOE had sent an official letter to the Election Commission (EC) requesting not to use secondary schools as polling centres in the Johor election to ensure the smooth running of the SPM examination from March 2 to 29.
— Bernama
