THE abolition of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and the Form Three Assessment (PT3) tests in the national education system is being carried out to ensure that school-based assessment (PBS) can be implemented effectively.

Senior Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said the implementation of PBS is not new as it began in 2011, however, teachers still focus too much on examinations to ensure students obtain excellent results.

“When there was a plan to abolish the exams, people asked how could we abolish exams as we are not ready with PBS. In fact, PBS has been implemented since 2011.”

“This assessment has been in the system for more than 10 years, and if (after) 10 years (it) cannot be implemented, maybe even 30 to 40 years later we will still not be ready because teachers’ focus is on exams with a focus on ‘latihtubi’ (drills),” he said.

He said this in his speech at the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2013-2025: Education Transformation Forum, themed ‘Satu Pengalaman Kolektif, Tanggungjawab Bersama’ (One Collective Experience, Shared Responsibility) in Kuala Lumpur, today.

Also present was Deputy Education Minister, Mah Hang Soon.

Radzi said the abolition of UPSR and PT3 is to ensure that teachers can implement teaching and learning in a more creative and innovative way, to ensure a more enjoyable learning environment.

“That is why we are implementing the transformation that we see as a whole, not just the abolition of UPSR and PT3, but how to train teachers to be more creative by showing how digitalisation can help,” he said.

The one-day forum is organised by the Education Ministry’s (MOE) Education Performance and Delivery Unit (Padu), in collaboration with the MOE’s strategic partners, Google For Education, Apple Malaysia, Digi, Microsoft Malaysia, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and the Health Ministry.

The forum also served as a platform for sharing ideas related to current issues, the latest direction to improve the quality of the country’s people-centred education and bringing the ‘access in education’ concept into the mainstream.

Apart from the sharing session, various future-forward activities were also prepared by strategic partners who are involved in the implementation of educational transformation, with the help of students and teachers from selected schools. – Bernama, August 8, 2022.