Testing times for education

THERE is a benchmark for most things we do. In a race, athletes not only compete against their opponents, but also against the clock. In weightlifting, competitors are judged by the weight they can carry, and in football, teams are measured by their wins and goals scored.

We have always compared ourselves to each other, be it in society, or in a particular field.

So it is not surprising that after many years, Sarawak has decided to reinstate tests for students in Standard Six, Form Three and Form Five.

“These assessments are necessary to evaluate students’ progress and identify those who need support, such as special classes,” Sarawak premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg says in a report.

He says the assessment would help not only educators but also parents to evaluate the performance of their children.

In a separate report, State Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Datuk Seri Roland Sagah says: “This will help them to decide what courses to take in the future and the improvements they have to make.”

“For us in Sarawak... we need some form of assessment, otherwise we would not know what level of education our children have. We cannot wait until Form Five for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) because by then it would be quite late,” he says.

Sarawak is returning to standardised tests as students still need to be gauged against one another.

Already, it was reported that 122,062 Year 1 pupils were identified as not having mastered basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills (3M).

“These pupils have been given more focused guidance and intensive teaching through the first phase of the intervention programme from July to September this year,” Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek says in a report.

“Data analysis up to Oct 30, 2024, shows that 48,308 pupils (39.58%) mastered these essential skills and resumed regular classes. The remaining 73,754 pupils (60.42%), who did not reach the required proficiency level, continued with the second phase of the intervention for another three months (October to December),” she says in a written response in the Dewan Rakyat.

Children must understand the basics before enrolling in Year 1, yet such a large percentage have not mastered them.

To make matters worse, it was reported that 10,177 SPM candidates did not sit for the exams last year. Problems with 3M were among the reasons for the dropout number.

Such students would not have not fallen through the cracks had there been periodic standardised testing and having them move onto Form Five unimpeded.

The tests can assess just how capable students are before they enter institutions of higher learning.

As Sarawak returns to standardised assessments, the Education Ministry, however, is sticking with Fadhlina’s stand that the School-Based Assessment (SBA) system provides a more holistic and integrated approach to evaluate students’ development compared to traditional examination-based methods.

In the report, she says SBA goes beyond intellectual evaluation, incorporating co-curricular, emotional, spiritual and social dimensions.

We all know that education is more than what we learn from books and are taught in schools.

Developing a student holistically is critical to creating well-rounded students who demonstrate abilities and skills that go beyond what is taught in the classroom.

Parents, however, have certain responsibilities and should not leave it to the schools to teach more than reading, writing, and math to their children.

The fact that a student is well-rounded and demonstrates the other evaluation criteria is immaterial: students need to know where they stand at different stages in their lives in order to take corrective action.

There are already cracks in school-based exams. They are not uniform and even more critical is the latest talk that the passing grade has been halved to a mere 20%.

Fadhlina is reported to be resisting calls to reintroduce standardised tests up until SPM exams, saying it would be unfair to treat students as though they are guinea pigs.

The simple fact is most Malaysians at one point were subjected to uniform testing. This in a way was to correct deficiencies early on and prepare them for adulthood and working life.