Education Ministry sets up ‘war room’ to respond to PBS

Kamalanathan.

KAJANG: The Education Ministry has set up a 'war room' to respond to teacher's problems with school-based assessments or PBS.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said that the ministry was working to rectify the issues with the PBS.

"I have tried logging on to the (online) system myself, and it took me a long time just to key in one student's data.

"The PBS is a good system, it has been successful in many other countries, but we just need to iron out the implementation. 

"This is why the ministry has set up a 'war room' and a hotline for teachers to report the problems that they're facing," he told reporters during his visit to SK Jalan Simpangan 1 and 2 here on Thursday. 

The PBS system was introduced in primary schools starting with Year One pupils in 2011 and in secondary schools with Form One students in 2012.

Following complaints from teachers over the inaccessibility of the online database, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said earlier this month that the PBS would be reviewed. 

At the same time, teacher group Suara Guru-Masyarakat Malaysia confirmed that it would go ahead with its planned protest over the matter on Feb 22 at the Bandar Baru Bangi mosque.