Press Digest: Primary school lambasted for selecting pupils via extrance exam

PETALING JAYA: For the first time in Malaysia, a primary school in Subang Jaya will pick pupils for its 2016 intake by means of a written examination.
According to a report in China Press today, SJK(C) Lick Hung has informed parents of some 400 six-year-olds registered for Year 1 that their children will have to sit for a placement screening test (Ujian Saringan Penempatan Murid Darjah 1) on June 20.
The move by Lick Hung, the sole Chinese primary school in Selangor awarded the high-performance school status by the Education Ministry, is believed to be aimed at picking the best among the registrants to maintain its standard. But it has parents hopping mad, many of whom have expressed their anger on social media. Some have complained to the school via its Facebook page.
They deemed it ridiculous to subject children, who have not gone to conventional school and have hardly any basic knowledge, to the entrance test.
Some of them plan to seek the intervention of the school’s parent-teacher association.
They feared that such a move would lead to corruption, in that some parents might resort to obtaining places for their children through the “back door” – by offering bribes to the school authorities.
The Education Act 1996 does not provide for entrance examination for children entering Year 1 but it does make it mandatory for parents to send their children to schools upon reaching the school-going age.
“But the action of the school seems to suggest that children who do not do well in the test should be rejected and denied their right to education,” said an educationist, Liang Quan Da.
Liang urged the school to impact education without discrimination and not to classify pupils or judge them based on just one test.
The school’s board chairman Pang Yue Cheng said he had received feedback from teachers and parents on the issue and will discuss with the headmaster once she returns from overseas.
It is learned that the Selangor education department has directed the district education officer to visit the school and look into the matter.