OUM - Change in the air?

Sunday July 25, 2010

Education stakeholders discuss if there is a need to change and replace the UPSR and PMR.

ONCE again, there is debate about the Malaysian education system. This time it is on whether the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations should be retained or abolished.

Previous debates in the past have centred on whether the policy on the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English should be continued or not, and the ongoing problems of heavy school bags.

Lok says that a more holistic assessment should replace the UPSR and PMR examinations

On June 20, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the two examinations could be abolished to remove the pressure of an exam-oriented education system on pupils and students.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, then announced in early July that the decision on whether to abolish or retain the UPSR and PMR would be made in a month or two.

He added that the ministry would hold roundtable discussions on the matter and all relevant parties would be invited to give their input.

The ministry’s first official roundtable discussion took place on Monday in Putrajaya, and was attended by over 120 educators, district education officers and teachers’ unions representatives.

Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom, who moderated the three-hour closed door session, only revealed that all the feedback received would be compiled in a report to be submitted to the Education Minister by the end of August.

Based on interviews conducted before and after the roundtable however, the main concern of educators is the need for a coherent assessment system to gauge the learning capabilities of students.

National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng reiterated the union’s support of abolishing both examinations.

“This is with the condition that there will be more holistic methods of assessment to replace the UPSR and PMR.

“We need a new assessment system that does not just focus on a student’s intelligence quotient (IQ), but develops his character and individual talents,” she said.

Sarawak Teachers’ Union president William Ghani Bina said the examinations can be abolished in favour of school-based assessments if certain criteria are met.

Hot topic: The packed room of participants at a recent roundtable discussion.

“Each class should not have more than 35 students, every teacher should be qualified and well-trained, and all schools equipped with ICT facilities.

“Additionally, the ministry must have proper guidelines for the school-based assessments and monitor their progress closely,” he said.

West Malaysia Malay Teachers’ Union president Mohamed Sabri Mohd Arsad said that school-based assessments would help weaker students.

“At present, we still have many Year Six pupils who enter Form One without mastering basic reading, writing and numeracy skills.

“Through a school-based assessment, teachers can identify in detail a child’s weakness and address the problem.

“The cost and manpower used in conducting the exams can instead be channelled into helping these pupils and providing schools with better teaching materials,” he said.

Meanwhile, National Tamil Teachers Union president P Dharmalingam said the examinations were crucial when measuring the performance of both students and teachers.

“By monitoring the performance of students, we can assess the effectiveness of teachers as well.

“Also, our curriculum development is based centrally; it would not be appropriate to hold school-based examinations,” he said.

Complex conundrum

While the ministry’s second roundtable session is scheduled to take place on July 27 for other education stakeholders, it appears that the public is eager to air their views as numerous other forums on the issue have been organised this week.

If Thursday’s roundtable discussion by Wawasan Open University and Sedar Institute is anything to go by, the feeling on the ground is that public examinations are just a small subset of problems plaguing the country’s education system.

Despite the theme of “UPSR and PMR: Retain, Revamp or Rid?”, it was evident from the discussion that the issue was too complex for one-word solutions.

While Malaysian Examinations Syndicate representative Dr Jamil Adimin stated that the syndicate’s stand is currently confidential as they “do not want to influence people’s opinions and wish to receive as much feedback as possible”, the other panel speakers were decidedly more vocal on their views.

Retired educationist Marwani Hassan pointed out that the issue of abolishing public examinations was not a new one.

“We have been researching and talking about it for over 10 years, but we are no closer to improving the system.

“While some of our brightest manage to rise beyond the system and go on to elite universities, the more disadvantaged students are simply left behind.

“This is because teachers are not graded by the ones they save, but instead by how many students can score A’s in public examinations,” she said.

Lok echoed this sense of deja vu, saying: “The National Education Assessment System (NEAS) was brought up in 2007, and it was to be a proper framework of school based assessment.

“Three years on, we have no clue as to the status of the NEAS.”

Universiti Malaya’s Faculty of Education deputy dean (research and development) Prof Dr Fatimah Hashim meanwhile highlighted that the tendency of the current system to produce robotic students could not be solved by abolishing the examinations.

“We need to consider the other problems such as the way we ask questions, the way we use exam results, and whether the number of subjects students have to take in the exams are too high.

“While the current buzzwords are ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’, teachers still lack the time to introduce these elements in their lessons and the curriculum does not allow space for the students to adopt critical thinking.

“If these base issues are not addressed first and new policies are not planned adequately, teachers will only pay lip service to whatever changes that are introduced in order to cope.”

Once the forum opened to the floor made up of parents, teachers and interested members of the public, what bound the diverse views expressed was an overwhelming sense of cynicism.

As one parent put it: “If we want to produce better students, it’s not just a matter of retaining or abolishing the exams but rehauling the entire system.

“Until we are truly prepared to do that, our children will continue to suffer.”

Click here. :)