Fadhlina orders review of SPM Moral Studies after furore over ‘unfair’ grading

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has ordered a full review of the SPM Moral Studies subject, stepping in after an outcry from parents and top-performing students whose university prospects are being jeopardised by unexpectedly poor grades in the paper.

Speaking at an event in Puchong today, Fadhlina acknowledged the “anxieties of parents and the community” and directed the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate to conduct the review.

She specifically thanked Sri Murugan Centre (SMC) director Surain Kanda for raising the issue, Free Malaysia Today reported.

“I have directed the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate to review and improve the subject,” she was quoted saying.

The review comes after reports that many high-achieving students received unexpectedly poor grades for the subject, potentially jeopardising their eligibility for matriculation programmes which often have stringent grade requirements.

According to Muda vice-president Siva Prakash, a former exam board manager, a key problem is the lack of transparency in how the paper is graded.

He explained that SPM grades are based on a moderation framework where grade boundaries are adjusted based on the student cohort’s performance, but these boundaries are not made public, leaving students and teachers in the dark.

At the same event, SMC’s Surain proposed that the Moral Studies exam should be an open paper using an “analytical marking” approach. He also criticised the grading threshold, calling the requirement to score 95 and above for an A+ “unreasonably high.”

Surain also urged the government to increase the number of matriculation placements for the Indian community to 2,500, without affecting the quotas for other communities.