“What Is Your Dream Wedding?”: SPM Oral Exam Question Receives Mixed Responses From Netizens

By Ameera Rosli  •  14 Feb 2022 in News

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Recently, a question posed at a Bahasa Melayu oral examination for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) was deemed inappropriate by a lawmaker and education group.

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching urged the education ministry to apologise over the question, “What is your dream wedding?” that was asked to 17-year-olds.

The Kulai MP asked the ministry to confirm whether or not the question was asked and if it were, they should apologise to the students and the parents.

She said in a statement, “They should not even be thinking about marriage because there are many other important issues in their lives, like what they want to achieve academically.”

The reasoning for the outrage is that the ministry should strive to ask more relevant questions that pertains to critical thinking.

Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) chairman Mak Chee Kin suggested questions regarding to Covid-19, types of vaccines and Undi18 which affects students directly and indirectly.

He also mentioned, “The Malaysian Examination Board should explain the rationale behind such a question.

“Should the board fail to provide a good explanation, the members should step down and the affected students should be given another chance to take the oral examination.”

Meanwhile, on Twitter, many are defending the board, saying that the question was all in good fun and that it actually helps students to construct everyday conversational sentences.

Others don’t seem to mind the marriage question but would prefer if it required more critical thinking – as also suggested by the aforementioned lawmaker and Magpie chairman.

What do you think about the question, “What is your dream wedding?” being asked to Form 5 students?

Should the board have asked more topical questions or is the wedding question actually constructive in helping students converse with each other? Let us know!