THE Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 results, which were recently released, revealed that performance of Malaysian students who participated in the assessment had seen a sharp drop compared to 2018. In fact, all three assessment domains — Mathematics, Reading and Science — saw the sharpest drop compared against neighbouring countries.
While the latest scores certainly do provide a rather sensational headline, it is important for us to resist the temptation to start condemning our entire educational system. Yes, the scores provide an indicator (a snapshot) of how a particular segment (the 15-year-old cohort) of our students had performed in 2022, but these scores alone cannot be used in isolation, without understanding the possible reasons for this drop and what might be needed to bring us back on track.
