Maszlee: It won’t take 60 years to recognise UEC
PUTRAJAYA: It will not take Pakatan Harapan 60 years to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), says the Education Minister.
Taking a jab at Barisan Nasional, Dr Maszlee Malik said Pakatan would stick to its manifesto and recognise UEC as a legitimate entry requirement for tertiary education.
“We are going to make sure whatever policy that we have to make or whatever decision we are making, there will be no U-turn or any flipflop, and it has to be holistic,” he said.
Dr Maszlee was speaking to reporters after delivering his monthly address to ministry staff yesterday.
UEC is issued to graduates of Chinese independent high schools and the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia has been pushing for it to be recognised for years.
Last Sunday, Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said UEC would be recognised by year-end.
In his speech, Dr Maszlee said the Prime Minister had given him three missions – to instill moral values among students, especially honesty and integrity, to strengthen English proficiency and to increase the use of technology in the teaching and learning process in the classroom.
To achieve the first mission, he said the Islamic Studies Department (BPI) and other bodies would prepare a manual on cultivating moral values from preschool right up to public higher learning institutions.
On the English language mission, Dr Maszlee promised that Bahasa Malaysia would not be sidelined.
He said Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) had been tasked with the responsibility of organising a campaign dubbed National Language Decade.
He also expressed his wish to raise the standard of DBP to the same level as the British Council and Goethe Institute, which are world-renowned language centres.
Dr Maszlee also announced that the National Library would now come under the purview of his ministry, as libraries and resource centres should not be separated from education institutions.
Meanwhile, MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong pointed out on Facebook that UEC was introduced in 1975, and hence only has a history of 43 years.
He urged Dr Maszlee to fulfil Pakatan’s promise in recognising UEC in a straightforward and clearcut manner and to stop dragging on the issue.
He said Dr Maszlee’s dilly-dallying had resulted in Chinese independent high school leavers missing out on the September intake at local universities.