The new Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid decided to postpone making English a compulsory pass in SPM (student who fail the subject will not receive their full certificate and will not be able to progress into national sixth form). He said the decision is necessary because it is unfair to students in the rural areas who had yet to reach satisfactory level of proficiency of the language. He also mentioned that the postponement was also to allow teachers and students more time to be prepared.

The announcement did not go well with parents group. The Page (Parent action Group of Education) and the Association of Parent Groups in Reforming Education (Aspires) voiced their disappointment and concerns that this would further harm the education standards.

Note:

The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or the Malaysian Certificate of Education is a national examination taken by fifth year secondary school students in Malaysia. This is equivalent to IGCSE / GCSE.

In 2013 the Education minister then Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had announced that English will be made a compulsory pass subject in the SPM examination in 2016 and students who fail English will not receive their full certificate and will have to re-sit the paper. The decision is seen as an effort to improve the proficiency of English and was received positively.

The recent announcement to reverse / postponed the earlier decision has triggered more concerns that the decision may be politically motivated at the expense of educational excellence.