The leakage of integrity

The recent leakage of the Science and English UPSR exam paper created quite a stir in the country. 

“So what? It’s only a primary six exam. After all, pass or fail, student will move on to form one”, some would say. Well, it is not simple as that.

Even though it is only a primary 6 exam, a lot of efforts have been put in by students in preparing for the exam itself. The parents too have done their part – encouraging their children, helping them out in their studies and sending them to extra classes. The teachers too have done their part, I am sure.

As many Malaysian families would do, activities have been planned to fill up the vacuum after the exams. Holidays to somewhere must be one of the common things. Money have been spent to purchase tickets and book hotel rooms. Leaves have been applied by parents, everyone is excited and looking forward to the planned itineraries. 

And then, it happened. The news of leakage and the need to re-sit the papers must have hampered everybody. It was a shame.

It created difficulties for everyone. The mental torture the student have to endure, the rescheduling of planned activities and the burden of unnecessary work for the invigilators. 

It may look like a simple task but for the 12 year olds, but it is herculean. The size of mental torture for them is like having to sit for the final MBBS for medical students or the MRCP for physician candidate. 

Working parents, who have applied for leaves months back may not be able to reschedule their leave. They may have to apply for new leaves – and most of us do not have that kind of luxury. Even if parents have tonnes of leaves to burn, the approval is another hurdle to overcome.

It boils down to the big question, what is happening to the integrity of Malaysians? What had just happened befits the Malay proverb, “kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga” or “seekor kerbau membawa lumpur, semuanya terpalit”. The negative effects ripples through all involved in the preparing and conducting exam. Financially, it will incur cost. 

What was their motives of leaking the exam? Was it money? Was it a “face saving” mode that parents adopted to ensure that their children’s result would not embarrassed them?

For one thing, it creates a sense of disbelief and distrust with the whole conduct of the examination. Back to the Malay proverb earlier, now it not only seeds distrust with the Education Ministry but also to the other government agencies. How can we be sure if the staffs working in another agency is honest enough when those entrusted in the exam syndicate blew it?

Strengthening the work flow and filling up the gaps in the work flow is always a constant exercise. Human will always find a way to overcome the loopholes to their own benefit. 

The whole leakage thing may have been around in the education sector for many years. The use of easy communication such as WhatsApp may have detected it earlier. I remembered from my schooling days that teachers coming from the high performance schools or “selected schools” were the ones who will vet the questions that will be used in public examinations. Some of the teachers would use the questions they prepared as practice questions in their “selected schools”. They even exchanged questions among themselves for the benefit of their selected students. We thought that the students in selected schools were lucky. But, actually, it defeats the whole purpose of conducting an examination. So, all this while we thought that students who came from the elite schools were bright – the reasons they were selected to go to such schools. No wonder, the elite schools always get a 100% passing marks compared to other national schools – with a little help from their teachers. 

Nevertheless, there are teachers from these elite schools who are very determined and hardworking to ensure that their students succeed in exams. 

Not only it breeds distrust in the government functioning, we are basically telling the young people that it is ok to leak a secret a bit here and there – all for your own benefit. Such malpractice becomes a norm. When they become part of the working force, this disease will perpetuate. We are seeing the effects now – a spate of suspected bribery among custom officers, building structures that disintegrate as a result of cost cutting and many more.

The steps that TPM took was commendable. I hope it is just not for show only – that the government is taking some actions. For visibility purposes. And I hope it will not just stop here. It should be extended to the other government agencies as well. God save Malaysia.