Open system for SPM certification

I REFER to the report “Do your homework on SPM cert, Teo told” (The Star, April 9). The relatively new Deputy Education Minister can be forgiven for her slip pertaining to the requirements for passing the SPM examination, however.

To qualify for SPM certification, students need to take six compulsory subjects (Bahasa Melayu, English, Islamic Studies or Moral Studies, History, Mathematics and Science) and three or four elective subjects. They are required to score a credit in Bahasa Melayu and a pass in History. With a minimum of four or five credits in the SPM certificate, students can apply to most of the local universities and colleges to do a foundation, diploma or certificate course.

I believe, however, that it should not be mandatory for students to obtain at least two credits and two passes – including Bahasa Melayu and History – to qualify for SPM certification.

Instead, students should be allowed to take an open SPM exam where, besides taking the core subjects, they have a free choice of the elective subjects offered in their school.

To register for the SPM exam for the first time, students need to sign up for the core subjects and at least six elective subjects. There should not be any maximum to the number of elective subjects in the open system to allow students to choose the subjects which they consider as important and suitable for their further education.

If students fail any of the subjects, they should be allowed to resit for these papers within three or six months instead of taking the whole exam again the following year.

In this open system, candidates only pass or fail their subjects but not the whole SPM exam. The SPM certificate would only indicate which subjects they pass (A, B, C) or fail (no grade).

THOMAS KOK Ipoh