Mr Chu To-Ming, the Director of the Education Division at theTaipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Malaysia, Mr Beh Chiew Nam, CEO of Malaysia Taiwan Education Center (MTEC), and representatives from the co-organizing bodies took off the seal from the examination question papers at 9am. The testing then began at 10.30am, and finished an hour later at 11.30am.

The TOCFL test was organized by the Malaysia Taiwan Education Center (MTEC), under the supervision of the Education Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Malaysia, with Kluang Chong Hwa High School as the co-organizer.

According to an official from the Malaysia Taiwan Education Center, 271 candidates registered, and of these, 263 candidates (97%) were able to actually attend on the day for testing. Eight candidates did not show up.

More than 50% of the candidates (163) were students from what are called ‘vernacular schools’. In Malaysia, these are National-type schools in which the Malay language is not the medium of instruction (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan, SJK). This is a change from the last time that TOCFL testing was held. At that time the great majority of candidates were from Chinese Independent Schools.

This is a very positive sign, and the Malaysia Taiwan Education Center is planning to popularize the test and expect even stronger participation next year, with more candidates from a wide range of schools using TOCFL to assess their Mandarin Chinese language skills.