He said the government’s objective was for students to be able to focus more on the main subjects as well as to make it easier for teachers to guide them.
So far we see that this (taking only 10 subjects) is okay,” he said at a forum for 2,300 Islamic religious teachers (North Zone) at Universiti Sains Malaysia here today.
Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, was responding to a suggestion by one of the participants that the government allow SPM students, particularly those taking Islamic religious studies, to choose more than 10 subjects so that they could also take science subjects for better further education prospects.
In this regard, he acknowledged the constraints faced by such students and indicated that the matter would be considered.
“What we are worried about is that the students might feel burdened. But we will study the issue in detail,” he said.
Muhyiddin also acknowledged that there was a shortage of Islamic religious teachers in schools, saying the Cabinet was looking at ways to resolve the issue.
According to him, one of the initiatives taken by the ministry was to send untrained temporary teaching staff for courses to enable them to become teachers.
“The shortage is not confined to Islamic religious teachers; we also face the same dilemma for other subjects particularly when teachers retire or leave due to unforeseen circumstances,” he said. — Bernama