SPM exams to be held as scheduled, use primary schools instead, Education Ministry tells EC

JOHOR BARU: The Education Ministry will inform the Election Commission (EC) to avoid using secondary schools in Johor as polling centres next month due to the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations.

Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said the ministry would soon write a letter to the EC informing them that secondary schools would be occupied with SPM.

"The SPM examination will begin on March 2 until March 29, and the ministry has already made the necessary preparations for the students to sit for such an important exam, which is for their future.

"We have no problems if the EC were to use primary schools instead of secondary schools for polling day in the Johor state election," he added.

He said this when met after attending an engagement with teachers and parents teachers associations at a hotel here on Saturday (Feb 12).

Radzi said that he received complaints from teachers during a meeting on Friday (Feb 11) that their schools would be used as polling centres in the midst of SPM.

He added that the EC had yet to make any official request to the Education Ministry on using schools as polling centres for the coming polls.

"We have set a regularity that no schools can be used during examination as the ministry does not want to see any interruption during the exam period," he said.

The EC has set the nomination day for the Johor state election on Feb 26, while early voting and polling day are on March 8 and March 12 respectively.