KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — The “critical thinking” element behind the ongoing controversy surrounding the SPM Moral examination should not have been included as it was only announced in the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 in September, a DAP lawmaker said today.

Pointing out the apparent haste in shoehorning the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) component into the paper, Kampar MP Ko Chung Sen noted that even Education Ministry officials — including Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan — were in the dark over its claimed inclusion.

“How did the Malaysian Examination Board see fit to suddenly introduce 10 per cent of the questions in the new format within two months’ time with the teachers and the students totally unaware and unprepared? 

“What’s worse is the Minister of Education seemed to be kept in the dark and blissfully ignorant of it,” Ko said in a statement today.

The first-term lawmaker added that the Moral Studies subject was an inappropriate choice as a test bed for the HOTS module as it was not science- or mathematics-based and was only taken by 40 per cent of all SPM students.

Following the uproar over the alleged change to the format of the Moral examination paper, a ministry official said the deviation was within the framework of the assessment but allowed for greater interpretation to discourage rote learning.

The unexpected change had caught educators, students and teachers by surprised, leaving many of those undergoing the test distraught after unfamiliar terms were used for the subject that is compulsory in the middle secondary examinations.

Scenes described by many parents and teachers reflected a situation of chaos and desperation as some students were seen crying after the paper, while others were furious that their two years of preparations were a waste as the new format made the paper complicated and confusing.

Yesterday, Ko also urged the ministry to maintain the number of distinctions for the Moral paper at the same level as last year, saying this would prevent disruptions to the students’ tertiary education plans.

Non-Muslim students are required to take the Moral Studies test as part of the middle secondary assessment, but the test is considered one in which it is easy to pass and even excel.