UPSR leaks: Saying sorry not enough

PETALING JAYA: Johor DAP deputy chairman, S Ramakrishnan said mere apologies without any concrete action being taken to reprimand those responsible for the UPSR leakages was “useless”.

Ramakrishnan said the education minister, who is also the deputy prime minister, was always apologising for the leakages but the problem kept recurring.

He said, “When the SPM papers leaked last year the same deputy prime minister apologised too. What happened to the probe by police? What action was taken to strengthen the security of these papers?

“Talking hard at the time of the leakage and forgetting the issue in due course fades the confidence and interest in public examinations.”

He also said despite promises to bring the culprits to book, incidents of leakages continued on a yearly basis.

Ramakrishnan said, “In the past the education ministry blamed private tutors, cleaners and security guards for examination paper leakages. But the mishap still continues to add more stress and pain to parents, students and teachers.

“No official in the examination syndicate has ever been held responsible for these leakages,” he added.

Ramakrishnan also questioned, “Where is the weak link in the examination paper preparation?”

Calling attention to the task force that was formed to get to the bottom of the problem, Ramakrishnan said, “In fact the Ministry of Education announced the formation of a task force to probe into the leakages. No news has been forthcoming on the probe till now.”

He added, “The general public has not seen any visible action taken to restore public confidence in the public education system.”

Ramakrishnan, who is a former senator, said the Ministry of Education needed to make every effort to track down and expose the perpetrators and keep the public in the loop about any progress made.

He added that formulating a secure and leakage-proof system should be made top priority in order to restore the integrity of the education system and the people’s confidence in it.

Ramakrishnan was of the opinion the leakages were shameful and unfortunate given the amount of effort, time and preparation put in by students and parents.