KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 – The Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid has denied that the UPSR Mandarin examination paper for this year’s Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) was set at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) level questions, aying it was based on the relevant syllabus.
“The accusation that the UPSR Mandarin examination paper contained questions based on the SPM Mandarin examination paperis not true,” Mahdzir said in a parliamentary written reply to Oscar Ling (DAP-Sibu) who asked the reason why the UPSR Mandarin examination paper was set at SPM level in the Dewan Rakyat here on yesterday.
“The 2015 UPSR Mandarin examination paper was constructed based on the Mandarin subject syllabus. The Examination Board has its own standard procedure in setting the text criteria, such as text length, scope and dimension, readable text that is social-culturally appropriate and the vocabulary used,” Mahdzir said.
Parents of students who sat for the paper in September had complained that the Mandarin comprehension paper was difficult and was set to very high standards. However, the minister indirectly admitted that the Malaysian Examination Syndicate, which is in charge of the UPSR, might have used excerpt sources from China, or other sources in the controversial 2015 UPSR Mandarin examination paper.
Mahdzir also said that the content of textbooks or sources were limited, excerpts from any authentic source, including from China, can be used, as long as the choice of the excerpts suit and fulfil the criteria set. It was reported the pupils who sat for the UPSR Mandarin examination paper came out crying as the subject, especially the objective questions were too difficult for them.
Earlier, MCA deputy president, Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong had commented that a part of the comprehension test for the UPSR Chinese paper was directly copied from an SPM workbook. He said he was among the outraged parents who also claimed that the objective questions were too difficult even for an adult to answer.
“In the meantime, the objective questions in the exam could not be answered confidently, even by Mandarin language professors such as Lim Chooi Kwa and Hou Kok Chong. How can you expect a 12-year-old to tackle these questions?” Wee is reported as saying by The Star.
