UPSR, PT3 abolition to allow students to explore STEM more naturally, says Radzi

KUALA LUMPUR: The abolition of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and Form 3 Assessment (PT3) will allow students to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in a more natural way, says Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin.

The Education Minister said the approach taken by the ministry was to further strengthen interest in STEM-related subjects among students as early as the primary education level.

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"That is why, when we look at the abolishment of UPSR and PT3, we want our students to be exposed earlier to science-related subjects as early as the primary school level in a more natural way.

"So with their interest, they will want to explore in more depth, and once they move to the secondary school level, they will not be afraid of such subjects," he said in a reply to a supplementary question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PAS-Pasir Mas) during Question Time.

Ahmad Fadhli had asked the Education Ministry to state its strategies to boost interest among students on STEM-related subjects and courses to meet the demand of the country in the future.

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Radzi added that the ministry will ensure that students will be able to compete and not be left behind especially in the development of innovation and technology.

"What is happening now is that there are some students who think that science subjects are hard.

"So some of them opt not to take science programmes at the secondary school level.

"So that is why, among our approaches is to strengthen the interest in STEM at an early level," he explained.

Meanwhile, he also noted that the implementation of the School-Based Evaluation (PBS) was not done in a rush and had been implemented since 2011 for primary school level and 2012 for secondary school level.

"The PBS assessment was aimed to assess intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical and social aspects of students in accordance with the National Education Policy.

"In the context of Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD), teachers will monitor the development, progress and capabilities of each student in their learning process including the basic skills of reading, writing and counting (3M)," he said.