SIBU: Parents of the three Primary Six pupils from SK Bintangor who were prevented from taking the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) last week are relieved to know that they can now sit for the exam.
A caretaker of one of the boys, Augustine Milau, said the pupils were also delighted with the good news.
“But if possible, we want the exam (for the trio) to be held within one week, not 40 days as given by the Education Department.
“The sooner the better,” said the 42-year-old farmer when contacted yesterday.
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister, said the three pupils – Idie Ganyol, Edward Ujoh and Richmend Mangi – could sit for the UPSR exam soon, and the questions would be similar to those given earlier.
He said as the minister in charge he had the power to allow the students to do so.
The director-general of Education, Datuk Abdul Ghafar Mahmud, said their results would be accepted as UPSR official results.
They were commenting on the incident at SK Bintangor where the three pupils were locked in a room by their teachers while their classmates sat for UPSR on Sept 13 and 14.
They were not allowed to sit for the exam because the school considered them academically poor and feared their marks might pull down the school’s overall performance, earlier press reports said.
Meanwhile, Augustine said Education Department officers went to the school after the incident came to light last week.
“But I do not know whether there was any action taken against the teachers involved in the incident,” he said.
He said the pupils were now at their longhouse Rumah Selat in Ulu Sungai Janting, in Bintangor.
“We hope the incident will not be repeated in the future,” he said, adding that they would consider bringing the case to court.