Malaysia to move away from exam-centric education system

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — There will be a shift towards continuous assessment of students instead of assessment purely on centralised exams in two years' time.

The proposal to introduce other methods of assessment has been on trial for two years, it was revealed today, and is aimed at addressing what parliamentarians called the "A syndrome" where people are obsessed simply with scoring as many As as possible for exams.

This trend has resulted in difficulty on the government's part to justify the awarding of public scholarships as it claims it has to balance academic and non-academic qualifications.

The new system, called the National Education Assessment System (SPPK), will see five assessments being introduced; school, central, psychometric, physical activity and co-curriculum, as well as central exams.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Wee Ka Siong told Parliament today that a pilot project has already been rolled out in 50 last year and 500 schools this year respectively, although it had no set date to roll out the system.

He said this in reply to a question by Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) who said that the current reliance on central exams has created an "A syndrome" where teachers and parents focus solely on racking up distinctions.

Wee, acknowledging that the trend has become a community-wide obsession, said that the new policy would allow "schools to evaluate students independently" based on certain guidelines set out by the ministry.

By 2011, the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM), the national pre-university course, will shift towards a "modular" system from the current "terminal" one.

"This means that each semester you will be tested only on what you learnt that semester," Wee told reporters later.

However, he said that a final exam would still be conducted and this would make up 70 to 80 per cent of the final marks with the exams module taking up the rest.

Later on, the ministry is proposing that the primary school-leaving Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah exam allow for 70 per cent grading outside a central exam.

The lower secondary evaluation Penilaian Menengah Rendah would be split evenly, while the crucial school-leaving Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia would have 70 per cent weightage for a final central exam.

Wee explained that the ascending scale of importance for central exams was due to a need for a streamlined assessment prior to government allocations for public university places and scholarships.

Such a system would also make non-exam evaluation crucial at an early age, build soft skills earlier and set up the right foundations for students to have what Wee called "educability, trainability, employability and marketability."