ARAU – The Education Ministry (MoE) will ensure that all students can master the minimum level set for their year before they continue their studies to the next level.
Senior Minister (Education) Datuk Radzi Jidin said the matter was among the issues discussed with parent teacher associations (PTAs) in Perlis today.
“We discussed how to ensure that students can complete the curriculum within the stipulated period. For example, (getting) Year 1 pupils ready to go to Year 2,” he told reporters after attending the Malaysia Prihatin Programme with PTAs here today.
Radzi said the MoE will continue to organise such programmes with all key components in the national education ecosystem to share the challenges and obstacles faced by the MoE over the past year, as well as provide explanations and share views on current issues.
Meanwhile, Perlis’ Parents, Community and Private Sector’s Involvement (PIBKs) chairman Associate Professor Abdul Jalil Ramli suggested that a special module be created by the MoE to help parents teach their children, especially Year 1 and Year 2 pupils.
“If we look at the consequences of Covid-19, Year 1 pupils followed face-to-face learning sessions for only three months, and some of them entered Year 2 when they had yet to master the 3M (reading, writing and counting) skills,” he said.
He said the module would help parents teach their children at home, with priority being given to Year 1 and Year 2 pupils to avoid a wide gap in terms of 3M skills.
“Priority should be given to Year 1 and Year 2 pupils as they need to master these basic skills to ensure that they are not left behind in lessons.”
He said most of the pupils who could not master the 3M skills are from low-income families, who have struggled with lack of internet access and devices to enable them to participate in the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) classes amid school closures due to the pandemic. – Bernama, March 21, 2021