When I assigned to teach form 6 student MUET subject, I was feeling a little bit apprehensive. I never took MUET before. The only similar kind of examination that I had taken is IELTS before I went to further my PhD at UK. It is the requirement for admission to any of UK university. So, with RM600+/-, I took IELTS once. Alhamdulillah I got Band 7, so I could apply to any UK university that require at least Band 6.5 or 7 as application requirement. Well, those were the days. Things are different now for the better. MUET is required as admission requirement as well as graduation requirement.
Last year, when I sent Amira and Shakir to SMKUT to take their MUET speaking test, they told me that they were partnered with a lady from UKM. She failed her MUET and thus, she needed to retake MUET again as graduation requirement. Amira and Shakir asked me if is it required to get Band 4 to graduate in Malaysian universities. I told them that as far as I know, only the top five universities i.e. old or research universities make such requirement. For other universities like USIM, it depends on your majoring. If you major in Islamic Revealed Knowledge programme like Qur’an and Sunnah, it is required for you to get Band 4 to graduate. This is what I know based on my conversation with USIM graduates who work as teaching in the school where I did my Latihan Ikhtisas.
But now, they i.e. Ministry of Education want to make it as requirement for non-option teachers who are teaching English to take MUET too. Of course, this move would create an uproar among teachers in Malaysia. But, being as an outsider but somehow links to education system, I would like to see positive change in this move. Would they become better teachers to teach CEFR curriculum if they take MUET? What would happen to those teachers who are not excelled in their MUET? That’s what I want to know in the future.