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A diplomat
to the end pg12-13
It’s final:
Maximum 10
subjects for SPM
by Maria J. Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: It’s decided. Starting next
year, students sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran
Malaysia (SPM) examination will only be
allowed to take a maximum of 10 subjects.
This subject cap will take effect in 2010
for all schools and 2011 for religious schools
that have students in the joint religious and
science streams, Education Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin announced yesterday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 17th
Conference of Commonwealth Education
Ministers (17CCEM) at the Kuala Lumpur
Convention Centre, Muhyiddin, who is
deputy prime minister, said this decision
seeks to dispel the notion that Malaysia has
a very exam-oriented system and to allow
students to be more involved in character
building co-curricular activities.
Muhyiddin had first mentioned the
subject cap on May 28, but four days
later, the ministry sought feedback from
all stakeholders so that the matter could
be further deliberated in the cabinet. Views
differed on the whether the cap should be
at 10 or higher.
Muhyiddin said after taking into ac-
count appeals from religious schools, the
ministry decided to allow students in these
schools to sit for 11 subjects, but only for
next year and by 2011, all schools including
the religious schools have to adhere to the
10-subject limit.
In religious schools which have two
streams (science and religion), students
currently have to sit for 11 subjects – both
science and religious subjects in addition
to four core subjects. The core subjects
are Bahasa Malaysia, English, History and
Maths, the religious subjects are Al-Quran,
Sunnah and Bahasa Arab Tinggi and the
science subjects are Biology, Physics,
Chemistry and Add Maths.
Muhyiddin said the subject cap was
aimed at reducing the stress of an exam-ori-
ented school system on students, teachers
and parents, adding that the government
wanted to introduce a system which em-
phasises more on students development
and concentration in selected subjects.
“With this we also want to dispel the
» Turn to Page 2
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulations (Malaysia)
» Good judges don’t delay decisions, says CJ pg2
A couple wearing protective masks rest as they wait for their flight at Kingsford Smith International Airport in
Sydney yesterday. More than 1,965 cases of influenza A(H1N1) are confirmed in Australia.
First local
H1N1 infection
UALA LUMPUR: Five more
K
cases of influenza A(H1N1),
including the nation’s first
local infection involving a 17-
year-old student, were confirmed
yesterday. This brings the total of
confirmed cases to 23.
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TELLING IT AS IT IS
The student (the 19th case) had
contact with another confirmed
case (12th) but was not detected
earlier as it was not declared.
Health Ministry director-general
Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican
said in a statement yesterday that
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Thursday
June 18, 2009
www.sun2surf.com
» Ice Age baby pg19
REUTERSPIX
the girl had not travelled to a coun-
try that had the flu.
He said the student had cough
and cold on June 14 at 9pm and
developed a fever the next day. On
the same day, she went to the Uni-
versity Malaya Medical Centre and
Entertainment
was referred to the Sungai Buloh
Hospital at 10am.
“During investigation, the 19th
case reported that she was in con-
tact with the 12th case, a medical
student who was confirmed posi-
tive for influenza A (H1N1) on June
13. Before this, she was not listed as
a contact to case 12.
“This caused the failure to do
early monitoring and quarantine
of case 19 and caused 20 more
people (contacts) to be exposed to
influenza A(H1N1) infection,” he
said.
He said of the other new cases,
three had been to Melbourne, the
city with one of the highest number
of A(H1N1) cases in the world.
Details of the other cases:
» 20th case: a 23-year-old local
public university male student
who made a seven-day study
visit together with 12 students
and lecturers to Melbourne. He
returned from Melbourne aboard
AirAsia X D7 2723 and landed at
the Low Cost Carrier Terminal
(LCCT) on June 17 at 7.15am.
» 21st case: a 20-year-old medical
student of a Melbourne univer-
sity who returned to holiday in
Malaysia aboard MH 128 and
arrived at the KLIA on June 16
at 6am.
» 22nd case: a 54-year-old man
who had travelled to Manila on
business on June 9. He returned
by MH 705 and arrived at KLIA
on June 12 at 8.25pm.
» 23rd case: a female Malaysian
student, 22, who arrived from
Melbourne by AirAsia X D7 at
the LCCT on June 14 at 7.15am.
Mohd Ismail said to identify the
contacts of all the positive cases,
they need the cooperation of pas-
sengers, the crew and the contacts.
The World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) has said that till 8am
yesterday the total number of cases
of influenza A(H1N1) reported was
36,346 cases with 163 deaths in 76
countries.
In KUCHING, Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Najib Razak said
a special meeting will be held
today to coordinate the efforts of
14 ministries in combating H1N1
infection following detection of the
first locally transmitted case.
“We don’t want the people to
panic but suitable preventive meas-
ures will be discussed at the meeting
tomorrow (Thursday).” – Agencies