Nurul Rifayah, a student in Selangor, asked why the government had decided to launch it less than a week before they sit for their first paper, which will be on Monday.
“I think it should have been done earlier,” she told FMT. “Most of us are now focused on the answering format and looking at papers from past years.”
She said it was too late in the day to be trying to gain new knowledge.
She also said she wished politicians in power had been as quick to respond to SPM students’ problems as they had been to the issue of university students signing up to become sugar babies. She noted that action was taken in a matter of days in the latter case.
“They say they are listening to us, but no one in the government has commented on the #SuaraPelajar movement as far as I know,” she added.
Justin Cheng Tye Wai, an Ipoh-based student, said the dedicated DidikTV channel could have been started last year so students would not have had to attend classes physically when schools reopened on Jan 20.
He said he was disappointed that DidikTV’s programmes had replaced most of NTV7’s contents, much of which he and his family used to watch regularly.
Cheng also said he would not be watching the content on DidikTV as he had lost the motivation to study, now that another movement control order was in place.
“I just want the exam to be over with. This is the period of time that SPM students should be relaxing or looking towards entering university. But some of us are already 18 and still stuck in secondary school.”
However, Durrah Batrisyia, who studies in Kuala Lumpur, said she had followed DidikTV since its initial limited-hours appearance on NTV7 during the lockdown last year and had found its content beneficial.
“The difference between programmes like DidikTV’s and face-to-face workshops is that on air, you don’t get to drag the lesson as long as you want as the time allocated for each programme is limited,” she said.
“Hence, everything that comes out from the teacher’s mouth is precise and straight to the point. There’s no beating around the bush.”
She said it was never too late to prepare for anything, especially an important exam.
DidikTV will broadcast programmes based on the education ministry’s curriculum and co-curriculum along with edutainment programmes and student-generated content. The daily broadcast is from 7am to midnight.
Education minister Radzi Jidin said the current focus would be on helping SPM candidates prepare for their exam next week.
He said students tuning in would be learning from experienced teachers.