KUALA LUMPUR: Parents of students sitting for the Form Three Assessment (PT3) examinations should not be unduly worried over the results possibly affecting their children’s chances of entering fully-residential schools or boarding schools.
This, said the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), is because not everything is dependent on academic performance.
NUTP president Aminuddin Awang said with the education system evolving into a less exam-oriented one, the eligibility for boarding school entrance is no longer one hundred percent based on PT3 results.
"The PT3 is just another school-based examination prepared by the National Examination Board to evaluate a student’s academic performance as part of a school assessment to gauge their suitability, whether it is towards the arts or science.
“Schoolteachers will not decide based on the test results alone but will also consider the psychometric evaluation, the semester examination results and the student's capabilities before assigning them to next year’s class.
“The PT3 results are but one of the components in the process," he said, allaying parents’ fears over the alleged leak of papers for the ongoing PT3 examination, that began on Tuesday.
Aminuddin said fully-residential schools or boarding schools now have their own entry examinations and assessments for those who wish to enrol into such schools.
"Parents do not have to get overly worried over the alleged examination paper leak, or a possible call to re-sit, because schools also test students in other areas when assessing them.
“Having said that, an examination paper leak is not something to be taken lightly and should be investigated if it is indeed true," he said.
Aminuddin said if there has indeed been a leak, in the future, the National Examination Board should prepare several sets of examination question papers of the same standard, similar to what they did for last year’s PT3 exam, to avoid panic.
"We were told that this year, the board only prepared one set of question papers for all, thus the leak caused unnecessary panic among schools, parents and students.
“Last year, there were five sets of question papers, all with different questions, but all of them were of the same standard.
“Schools were allowed to choose any one from the five sets. This way, even if one had been leaked, there were four other sets the schools could print and use," he said.