KUALA LUMPUR: An education expert believes that bringing back the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and the Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (PT3) would help restore the national education system.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Centre of Education and Diversity senior lecturer Dr Anuar Ahmad said the implementation of the classroom-based assessment (PBD) after seven years has not been as successful as expected.
"This is my personal view after examining the data. It's okay if some disagree with my opinion.
"Therefore, I believe it would be better to bring back UPSR and PT3 for now, so that we can restore the national education system for the benefit of our children.
"My support for the return of UPSR and PT3 is not because centralised exams are the best assessment method. It is because I can no longer rely on the unclear direction and effectiveness of PBD implementation," he said.
He added that his assessment was after listening to, reading, and studying numerous complaints from parents and teachers regarding the implementation of the PBD.
He also claimed that most parents and teachers wanted PBD to be abolished, and UPSR-PT3 reinstated.
"The data showing student performance decline in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2022, the high dropout rate in 3M (reading, writing, arithmetic) from primary to secondary school, and low Maths scores in SPM 2022 and 2023 support my conclusions.
"Yes, in my view, PBD has indeed failed. But this is not due to PBD itself. On paper, PBD is a good assessment method. Nor is it the fault of the teachers, who have tried to implement PBD to the best of their ability.
"The failure of PBD in this country stems from inadequate planning and preparation of the PBD ecosystem. If the PBD ecosystem had been ready since 2017, PBD would surely have succeeded, like in European and Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately, our ecosystem was not prepared to implement PBD," he said.
He added that at the same time, if there was still interest in PBD, it should be planned well.
On Sept 15, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called for a review of the education policy on examinations for Primary 6 and Form 3 students.
This, he said, was necessary following revelations that 27 per cent of Year 1 pupils nationwide had problems with reading, writing, and counting.