Syndicate to announce new format for UPSR today

PETALING JAYA: The Examinations Syndicate is set to announce the new format for the Ujian Pencap­aian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) today.

According to sources, the new format for the primary school achievement test for Year Six pupils will be more along the lines of PT3 (Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 or Form Three Assessment) where the exam and school work will have a separate weightage.

The current UPSR is based solely on how pupils perform in the exam.

Under the system, pupils in national schools sit for five papers while those in vernacular schools sit for seven (as there are two papers each for the Chinese and Tamil languages).

Next year, pupils in national schools will be expected to sit for six papers with a second paper for Science while those in vernacular schools will sit for eight papers.

Currently, pupils in national schools sit for Bahasa Melayu (two papers), English, Mathematics and Science while those in vernacular schools will also be tested on their Chinese or Tamil language skills.

All pupils sit for the aptitude test on the last day.

It is believed that the change is in line with the Standard Curriculum for Primary Schools (KSSR), which was implemented in 2011 starting with Year One pupils.

When introducing the KSSR, the Education Ministry had said then that it was to produce holistic individuals to meet challenges of the future.

The KSSR replaced the primary school integrated curriculum (KBSR), which was introduced in 1983, and reviewed in 2003.

Changes have been made in areas related to curriculum, assessment, teacher training, monitoring as well as teaching and learning approaches.

KSSR is pupil-centred with an emphasis on fun learning, critical and creative thinking, reasoning skills, communication and ICT (information and communication technology) literacy.

The ministry had said it had benchmarked against Britain, Sing­a­pore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and Scandinav­ian countries.

It added that KSSR was based on six key areas – communication, spiritual attitude and values, humanitarianism, literacy in science and technology, physical and personal development – to produce holistic individuals.