IT is possible for candidates to only take the Bahasa Melayu paper in the SPM exams, Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said.

Candidates who wanted to sit only the Malay paper can seek permission from the National Examinations Board, she said.

“You just need to get approval from the board to be allowed to take just the Malay paper,” she told the Dewan Rakyat during question time this morning.

She was replying to Dr Wee Ka Siong (Ayer Hitam-BN), who asked if the government would make SPM an open examination, where candidates would be allowed to be tested for a single subject.

Wee, a former minister in the last administration, had been arguing that SPM should be made an open exam.

According to the current system, all first-time SPM candidates must take six core subjects, including history.

Wee said Pakatan Harapan is not fulfilling its GE14 manifesto to recognise other A-level equivalent certificates for entry into public universities.

In the manifesto, PH promised to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) as a qualifying requirement for pupils to enter public universities, with the condition that they had received a credit for Bahasa Melayu in SPM.

The UEC is taken by pupils in independent Chinese secondary schools while SPM is the public school-leaving exam taken by form five pupils in national and national-type secondary schools.

A credit in the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper and a pass in history are required for enrolment in a public university.

Teo said as long as the private candidate received the go ahead from the director of the NEB, he or she could take only the Bahasa Melayu paper.

“How is it that a former minister doesn’t know this? You just need to get the board’s approval,” Teo said.

Wee protested against her remark, insisting that the present system stated otherwise. – April 8, 2019.