THE government must not take a narrow view of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) and understand its content, instead of rejecting it as an entrance requirement to public universities, the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) said.

Its president Tan Tai Kim said that reasons given by Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin were narrow-minded and showed misunderstanding about the UEC, which also teaches students to be patriotic.

“The curriculum is formulated in accordance with the disciplines required by the Education Ministry while having diverse content, and it also advocates the cultivation of patriotic students. 

“It is in line with the needs of the country as a pluralistic society,” Tan told The Malaysian Insight.

He was responding to Radzi’s parliamentary reply to a question by Wong Kah Woh (Ipoh Timor-PH) on whether Putrajaya would recognise the UEC for public university applications

The school-leaving certificate issued by Chinese-language independent high schools has been a long-standing hot-button issue for the Chinese-speaking community. While vernacular schools are allowed in Malaysia, there continues to be pressure from Malay nationalist segments to abolish Chinese schools.

The UEC is recognised as an entry requirement by most foreign universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Institutions in these countries may still impose additional requirements such as an English language proficiency test.

Locally, it is recognised by private universities and the state governments of Sarawak, Selangor, Penang and Malacca as an entry requirement into state-run higher education institutions.

Radzi, in his parliamentary written reply said the federal government would not recognise the UEC because it did not comply with the National Education Policy, which requires the national language, Bahasa Melayu, to be the medium of instruction.

The policy also requires the use of a national curriculum and for all students to sit for the same examination.

But Tan said the UEC did not ignore the teaching of Malay or English, and students have scored well in these subjects.

“Regardless the medium of instruction, UEC students are good in both Malay and English. 

“We are not ignoring the learning of other languages. So don’t view the UEC in a narrow-minded way,” he said.

Tan also noted another government inconsistency – that despite its rejection of the certificate for public university entrance, the Education Ministry’s Teachers Training Colleges accept UEC holders as candidates for its bachelor’s degree programme.

Tan urged Radzi to receive and publish the report on the UEC by a special committee formed under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration to study the certificate’s acceptance.

“Explain to the public the committee’s findings,” he said.

Getting the UEC recognised had been an election promise by the PH government when it won in 2018. The special committee, headed by sociologist Eddin Khoo, and included representatives from the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement as well as Dong Zong, had managed to complete its report.

But until late 2020, the report had not been submitted to the new government.

“Now that talk of the next general election is stirring again, I am worried and disappointed that the UEC issue will be used as a political tool again,” Tan said. – August 2, 2022.