KUALA LUMPUR: The government has never received any reports from the task force responsible for submitting a review to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the task force was supposed to submit the report to the ministry within a three to six-month period starting November 2018.
She said the period had been extended six times from the initial period until Feb 28, 2020.
"However, until the final date, the final report on the research was not submitted by the task force.
"Meanwhile, since the study term was not renewed, the task force was also automatically disbanded," she said in a parliamentary reply yesterday (March 15) to Mohd Nazri Abu Hassan (PN-Merbok) on the status of the UEC study by the task force.
Fadhlina added that the ministry at the time had no plans to recognise the UEC implemented in Independent Chinese Secondary Schools.
"This is based on the National Education Policy and Education Act 1996 (Act 550)."
The UEC is the unified examination for Independent Chinese Secondary Schools that do not follow the national education system.
The recognition of the UEC was one of the promises made in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto in the 14th General Election (GE14).
The task force comprises a three-member panel appointed by the ministry in 2018 and has since engaged various individuals and entities, including associations, political parties, scholars, and parents, for their opinions on the issue.
The panel is made up of Eddin Khoo Bu Eng, the founder of the Centre for the Study and Documentation of Traditional Malay Performances (Pusaka), Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) president Mohamad Raimi Ab Rahim, and Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce president Datuk Tan Yew Sing.