Compulsory Pass ‘Sejarah’ in SPM from 2013

By CHAI CHIAO MEI

KUALA LUMPUR - There will be no certificate for those who failed Sejarah (History) subject in Sijil Pengajian Malaysia (SPM) examination, beginning from 2013.

Failed Sejarah in Exam Same As Failed SPM

Minister of Education and also Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that beginning from year 2013, sejarah will be a must-pass subject in Sijil Pengajian Malaysia (SPM) examination, along with the Bahasa Malaysia subject.

Parents and surely students, who are already struggling with the subject, are obviously concerned with the government decision.

UMNO President Hashim Adnan said that the concerns stemmed from the rushed nature of the move and its potential impact on students.

The Ministry of Education will setting up a special committee to look into improving the contents and teaching methodology of the history subject in schools.

We believe that it will be virtually the teachers and students of the pressure in the future. Hopefully, authorities will come up with a method of teaching the subject that is enjoyable to both teacher and the class.

Primary School Study History in 2016

In addition, start from 2014, History would be made a core subject in primary schools, too, said Muhyiddin.

“It is also in line with the decision to introduce a new assessment system for the Ujian Pelajaran Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) in 2016, said Muhyiddin.

Muhyiddin also said the new school-based assessment to replace the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) would be introduced in 2014, two years ahead of its initial implementation date.

The Minister’s statement immediately received a lot of feedback.

Making history a compulsory subject to pass in SPM will only add pressure on students who are already burdened with school work. It found that Facebook user created a group of “We Reject SPM Sejarah Must Credit in 2013” and hot discussion in forum.

Muhyiddin said the public should not be influenced by parties that claimed the move was a ‘deception’.

According to statistic from Ministry of Education in Malaysia, the passing rates of previous History subject in SPM by students nationwide were 70.05% in 2008, and 70.8% in 2009.