KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday set April 2 for its decision on an application by the Malaysian Examinations Board and the government to strike out a suit filed by a dyslexic male student regarding leaks in last year’s Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination.
Judge Datuk Rosnaini Saub fixed the date in chambers after hearing submissions by Senior Federal Counsel Kamal Azira Hassan and Zureen Elina Mohd Dom, who represented the government and the board, and counsel V Rajadevan who acted on behalf of the student.
On Nov 19 last year, the board and the government, named as defendants, filed the application to strike out the suit by K Mangala Bhavani, mother to Ananda Krishnan Menon, 13, as plaintiff, on grounds that the suit did not disclose reasonable cause of action other than humiliate and prejudice the defendants and abuse of the court process.
On Oct 13 last year, the student’s mother filed the suit on behalf of her son claiming the defendants were negligent in conducting last year’s UPSR examination, causing her son to have to resit several papers.
In the statement of claim, the SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail 2 student alleged that the defendants failed to implement a secure system to prevent the papers from being leaked.
Ananda Krishnan alleged that the defendants also failed to supervise their personnel and agents from the start of the process to the distribution of the exam papers to prevent leaks.
The exam was scheduled for Sept 9 to 11, but students had to resit the Science, English, Mathematics and Tamil Language papers on Sept 30 and Oct 9 following the leak.
Ananda Krishnan said as a dyslexic with special needs, he suffered from emotional stress, misery, disappointment and lost motivation to resit the papers.
He is seeking special and general damages as well as costs.
Meanwhile, both defendants, in their statement of defence filed on Dec 3 last year, said they knew about the leaks involving English Papers 1 and 2 through news reports which showed the same questions as the actual questions.
Investigations revealed the matter was true and the board cancelled the papers and directed students to resit those papers.
The defendants also stressed that cancellation of the English and Mathematics papers were according to Regulation 9 of the Education (Assessment and Examination) Regulation 1997. — Bernama