PONTIAN: The Education Ministry is not in a hurry to abolish arts and science streams in Form Four, its Minister Dr Maszlee Malik clarified today.
He said, in a Bernama report, that an announcement on the abolition of the two streams would only be made "when the time comes".
He pointed out that the ministry would not make a decision "in a hurry" but would instead conduct a thorough review covering all aspects including "engagement and employment".
“The ministry has yet to make any policy announcement (regarding the abolition).
"What happened was that it was my speech during a townhall session in Germany. The report sounded as though it was a policy announcement, but in fact, it was not.
“What I said was that in future, we want to ensure that students are not stuck with the streaming (system). For example, a science student (because of the streaming) could not take-up literature. At the same time, there are also some art students who would want to take up science subjects.
“But the report has been portrayed as though it was a policy statement,” Maszlee told reporters after attending Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Teluk Kerang ‘Let’s Go to School (Jom Sekolah) 2020 here today.
He said this when asked about the National Council of Professors' (NCP) advice that the government should not to be hasty in wanting to abolish the arts and science streams in Form Four from next year.
NCP president Prof Datuk Dr. Raduan Che Rose said he was worried that the move would have implications on courses at the university level and appeared to contradict the ministry’s move to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
Maszlee, who is also the Simpang Renggam MP, said the ministry has received inputs from various parties on its effort to improve the education system.
He said the abolition of streams was also part of the report of the cabinet committee's policy review committee, which was requested by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"Which is why we are looking at today's world education trend of cross-sectional learning,” he said, as quoted by Bernama.
"What we do know is that in the next 10, 20 or 30 years, many jobs will take place cross-field.
"For example, agriculture, in the future will be agro-technology that requires farmers to be technologically literate... We know the use of drones will require exposure to digital literacy,” he said.
Maszlee said in the last five years, not many students have entered the science stream because it requires good results, while art students may be interested in biology.
“This is the future and a global trend. Whether we want to or not, we need to be prepared for it." he said. -- BERNAMA