BY GAVIN GOMEZ

KUALA LUMPUR: Students with hearing impairment have always been exempted from sitting for the oral component of the SPM Bahasa Melayu paper, Education director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat said.

“Therefore, cases of such students failing the paper due to their disability should not arise,” he said, commenting on a report that they were marked as “absent” for the oral Bahasa Melayu examination.

YMCA Self-Reliance Centre for Deaf executive-in-charge Lucy Lim had said last week that the students' mother tongue was sign language, while Bahasa Malaysia and English were written languages.

She had said that she hoped the Government would look into the matter. It is learnt that confusion arose over the students' registration for the July Bahasa Melayu paper, where they had failed to state their disability.

“They were registered as private students,” an official from the Malaysian Examinations Syndicate said.

She added that as a result, the ministry processed their examination scripts together with those of the normal students.

“The matter is now being looked into and the students' papers will be reassessed. We have obtained a list of those affected and are working with the Special Education Department on the matter,” she said.

Abdul Rafie said the community should not be unduly worried as this was an isolated incident that could have been avoided.

“We keep special needs students' interest close at heart and are continually improving the way in which we can make education more accessible to them,” he added.