Deputy education minister Mah Hang Soon asked the people not to speculate to ensure that the matter could be resolved properly.

“I have just received the information and I think whatever (assumption) there may be, we have to wait for the report from the MEB.

“After that, we will have a discussion before appropriate follow-up action is taken,” he said after holding a meeting with members of the Perak Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCCI) here today.

Yesterday, a media outlet reported that several parties had urged the ministry and the MEB to respond to allegations that the Bahasa Melayu examination questions (listening test) in the second session was said to be identical to the first SPM session that had been shared widely.

The second special SPM session is for students who were unable to take the examination recently due to Covid-19, floods as well as those who were given special exemptions by the director of examinations.

On a separate matter, Mah said the issue over the recruitment of 4,932 teachers under a special “one-of” programme would be resolved soon by the Education Service Commission (SPP).

“This matter has been discussed many times. It’s actually an ongoing process.

“It needs to go through the SPP. We will keep people updated from time to time.”

He said despite acknowledging that there were complaints from various parties regarding the delay in the appointment for the vacancies, it needed to be fine-tuned based on SOPs set by the SPP.

He did not rule out the possibility that the quota would be filled by candidates who did not have a contract of service (COS) in the education profession.

On March 29, education minister Radzi Jidin said 13,770 out of 18,702 vacancies for teacher positions under the special “one-off” recruitment had already been filled nationwide thus far.

Radzi said there were only 4,932 remaining vacancies waiting to be filled.