THE Education Ministry (MOE) is looking into appropriate approaches that can be adopted to improve the literacy rate among students in the country.

Education Minister Radzi Jidin said the matter needs to be given attention as there are some students whose reading is still poor despite having already entered secondary school. 

“This is not a new thing; it has been around even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. This is a major challenge for us (MOE) and I have discussed with the education director-general to look into different approaches, to address the issues. 

“…Perhaps, the syllable-based approach that we have been adopting is a bit difficult for students to understand. So we are working on that to ensure early intervention can be done,” he told a press conference after officiating the 29th National Seminar on Educational Management and Leadership at the Aminuddin Baki Institute in Genting Highlands today.

Meanwhile, Radzi said the ministry is aware of allegations of teachers who have to “cheat” by awarding higher marks to students to ensure their key performance indicators (KPIs) are met. 

“We have to understand, the comments (marks) given by the teachers are based on their discretion. So for us to say that this teacher is cheating … is a rather subjective thing.

“But I do not deny that this may happen and we are also aware that there is a need for us to move together to understand what we want to achieve or produce from the education system,” he said. – Bernama, July 4, 2022.