KUCHING: Putrajaya’s sincerity in recognising the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) has been questioned by the Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations.
Its president Datuk Richard Wee called it to question especially after Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the government does not have any plans now to recognise the UEC taken by students at Chinese independent high schools.
In justifying the stance she said the UEC task force formed in 2018, was supposed to submit its report to the ministry by Feb 28, 2020, but failed to do so.
Wee, who is also the treasurer of the Sarawak United Association of Chinese School Boards, said this came as a huge disappointment and was saddened about the matter was handled by the previous government.
“Our representatives from the federation of the Chinese independent high schools in Sarawak were invited to meet Eddin Khoo, the former chairman of the UEC task force (years ago) to share our views on the syllabus and subjects with United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) and how to have a possible compromise plan for all parties.
“But, since then, we have not been informed of the outcome,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
He said the main issues raised and discussed during the meeting at the time were the Bahasa Melayu and History subjects, which required further discussions.
Apart from that, he said, there were no major issues as most of the students from the Chinese independent secondary schools in Sarawak also sit for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
Usually, students spend six years in a Chinese independent high school, where it is divided into two stages – three years in junior (Junior 1, 2,3) and three years in senior (Senior 1, 2, 3).
Meaning to say, most of them sit for SPM when they are in Senior 2 and UEC when they are in Senior 3.
Wee said he personally felt the statement that the government has never received any report was another way of delaying to deal with the matter.
“It seems that no matter who is in government, the UEC will always be treated the same and that is the lack of sincerity and political will to resolve this issue,” he said.
“I wonder why is it so difficult for Putrajaya to recognise UEC?” he added.
The federal government, he said, can opt to follow the Sarawak government’s footsteps in recognising UEC, allowing holders of the certificate to work in the state civil service and apply for scholarships from Yayasan Sarawak.
DAP: How to standardise and reconcile UEC and STPM?
Meanwhile, Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Sibu MP Oscar Ling said recognising UEC is not a unilateral process.
Apart from the federal government, he said, there are things which need to be agreed or compromised by other parties, including the Dong Zong as well.
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When we talk about recognising UEC it is important to know what it refers to. Does it mean allowing UEC holders to enter the civil service or admission to public universities (IPTA) as well?”
Ling said admission to the civil service, especially at the state-level, would be a more “straightforward” issue, whereby those with credit in BM, can apply or enter the civil service.
However, when it comes to admission to IPTA, he said, there is “room for negotiation” as there are a few things that need to be looked into especially the subjects, syllabus as well as the grading system.
“If the government recognises and allows UEC holders to enter IPTA, it means they have to compete with STPM holders.
So, the question will be – how will the government standardise or reconcile the two examinations, when the curriculum of UEC and STPM is not similar in terms of syllabus, content and language.
Besides, the UEC grading system follows a different grading system from its public school equivalent, STPM.
For STPM (Form Six studies) in public or government schools, students only need to sit for four subjects and their grading system is calculated using the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) system.
When it comes to UEC, the subjects are graded according to nine grades, namely, A1, A2, B3, B4, B5, B6, C7, C8 and F9 (failed).
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune recently, Ling said, if the government recognised UEC and listed the Chinese independent secondary schools in the National Education Policy and Education Act 1996, then the government will have a say in the syllabus as well as the schools’ operations.
“Then, the second question now will be – how will these Chinese independent schools remain “independent” if the government has a say in their syllabus?”
Since the first UEC took place in 1975 the entire examination system (teaching syllabus, examination timetable and grading criteria) is administered by Dong Zong every year.
Apart from that, Ling asked, if the recognition refers to providing allocations such as for school building, construction or paying teachers’ salaries to the Chinese independent secondary schools, does it mean the government has to do the same for other international schools (using English as medium)?
“It is not that I don’t support the recognition of UEC but I’m sharing my views about the challenges in recognising the certification at the federal level.
“I believe there is (more) room for further negotiations as there are a few issues that need to be ironed out among all parties,” he added.
SUPP: It is all about political will and wisdom of the leaders!
However, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women’s chief Kho Teck Wan said despite efforts to get Putrajaya to recognise UEC over the years by many parties, there has been no progress in the country except for Sarawak.
She attributed UEC’s recognition in Sarawak since 2014 to the political will and wisdom of its leaders, allowing UEC holders to be eligible to apply for scholarships as well as enter the state civil service.
“When Pakatan Harapan placed UEC recognition as one of the manifestos in their Buku Harapan prior to GE14, it was viewed as a beacon of hope for UEC recognition.
“Unfortunately the progress went only as far as the forming of the UEC recognition task force,” she said.
The Education Minister’s recent statement, Kho said, once again showed that the issue was being used merely for votes and support by Pakatan Harapan.
“The fact that the UEC recognition task force formed by PH didn’t submit their study report although an extension of deadline was given proves that the PH government didn’t have the intention to pursue UEC recognition in the first place.
“The task force was set up just for a show, and the rakyat have been taken for a ride,” she said.
Thus, Kho hoped that all parties can put their political opinions aside and seriously look into the recognition of UEC as the certification is already recognised by many prestigious universities around the world.
“UEC recognition should be viewed as an effort to retain and attract more talents for nation building,” she said,
