BANGI: The Form Three Assessment (PT3) examination scheduled to begin at the end of this month is likely be postponed if the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings hits the very unhealthy level of 300 and above.
Education Ministry’s deputy director-general (school operation sector) Dr Ahmad Rafee Che Kassim said a similar decision would also be taken for other public examinations if the haze continues to worsen.
“The postponement of public examination would be carried out at schools nationwide even if only one station in the country registers an API reading of 300 and above.
“The decision to postpone the examination, however, would be made at the ministerial level,” he said at a press conference here today.
Present was Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia deputy vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Othman Abdul Karim and the university’s education faculty dean, Prof Datuk Dr Norazah Mohd Nordin.
The written papers for the PT3 examination were supposedly begin on Sept 30 and the exams would go on until Oct 8.
It was reported that thick smoke which began enveloping several parts of the country about two weeks ago forced the closure of more than 2,000 schools affecting 1.7 million students as of 11am on Friday.
Rafee said it was up to the management of the respective schools to decide on the temporary closure of the school if the API reading at their area surpasses the unhealthy mark of 200.
“The decision to close the school would be made latest by 5pm every day, if the API readings which could be found at the Department of Environment’s website rise to 200 and above.
“There is no need for replacement classes since the closure of the school was due to natural disaster,” he said.
To ensure students' learning is not affected by school closure, the ministry has provided free digital learning platform at portal.moe.edu.my or portal.moe-dl.edu.my
The ministry’s EduwebTv portal, he said, also contains digital educational resources in the form of curriculum videos for levels from pre-school up to secondary school.
“Teachers and students have been provided with a login ID to access the portal,” he said.