Wrong To Say Education Ministry Not Accepting Uec Task Force S Report Khoo

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The issue about the Education Ministry not accepting the UEC does not arise as the report is still being finalised, said Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) task force chairperson Eddin Khoo.
He added that the report would be completed and presented to the ministry as soon as the conditional movement control order (MCO) is over.
Khoo was responding to former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching's statement today questioning whether the Perikatan Nasional government is willing to accept the report.
Teo further mentioned that the timeline for tabling the UEC report had been postponed several times and there are no developments after Khoo said it would be submitted at the end of September.
She said Education Minister Radzi Jidin merely stated the UEC task force was automatically disbanded since February in his parliamentary written reply in August when questioned on when the ministry would meet with the task force.
"It is clear that neither the minister nor the deputy minister (Mah Hang Soon) has publicly expressed their willingness to accept the report," said Teo.
Disrupted by Covid-19
According to Khoo, the process to finalise the UEC report was seriously disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic and the following movement restriction; however, the task force is currently working closely with the Education Ministry and have meetings together.
"I have not submitted the report to the ministry yet, because we're still going back and forth. For example, there are legal dimensions that my colleague is looking into [...], and there is a compilation of further data and information that I required from Chinese schools.
"Please understand that it is a very serious matter and a long process. It's been an issue that has existed for decades.
"Please don't say the ministry is not accepting. There is no politics here, no politics of the minister not accepting.
Adding that he preferred face-to-face communications rather than the online meetings, Khoo said he was only able to reconvene the committee to meet in late August and September.
Khoo said that he would not keep quiet if the ministry refused to accept the report.
Besides, he also reiterated that the report should be made public once it is finalised.
Describing himself as a perfectionist, Khoo stressed that every word in the over 10,000 words report matters.
He assured that the report is very comprehensive, and interviews with over 90 groups and individuals would be included in the report.
"Just leave the specialised people to do what they are supposed to do. Now is not the time to raise contentious political issues.
"[...] We have to find a sensible and reasonable solution to this (UEC) issue. It cannot be constantly brought up."
The UEC task force was set up in October 2018 by the previous Pakatan Harapan government which had pledged to recognise the education certificate in its 2018 election manifesto.
The report was supposed to be presented to the government earlier but has been postponed several times until the Harapan government collapsed following the "Sheraton Move" in February.
While Radzi had revealed the task force was effectively dissolved on Feb 29, as its tenure was not extended in February as required in its terms of reference, Khoo had told the media in August that the task force would continue to work on the report. - Mkini

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