NIBONG TEBAL – The Education Ministry has decided that the reintroduction of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and the Form Three Assessment (PT3) will depend on the results of the tabling of the Malaysia Education Development Plan 2025 due in three years’ time.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said any decision to reintroduce both exams would need to refer to facts and data collected throughout the plan, and not to existing tendencies.
“We understand parents’ concerns after the abolishment of the exams. This issue saw a long process with stakeholders, parents, and teachers before the decision to abolish UPSR was made.
“We have to table the results of the report first to implement improvements to the education system,” she told reporters here today after meeting Nibong Tebal residents at her service centre here.
She added that the ministry’s current stand was to strengthen school-based learning for students to improve, progress, and develop their potential, rather than an exam-based approach, as a holistic development for children cannot only focus on a single aspect.
On a separate issue, Fadhlina said that the ministry is committed to ensuring that the school session pushed to March last year will return to its original schedule in January soon, but cannot be implemented next year as several justifications are needed, in accordance with the Education Act 1996.
She said any change to the school session needs to take the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia, and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia examination schedules into consideration, along with local economic factors and the year-end floods.
The school session for 2022/2023 was changed to begin in March 2022, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and implementation of the movement control order.
The school session for 2023/2024 will begin on March 10 or 11 depending on the individual state. – Bernama, December 24, 2022
