Education Minister: Teachers should not turn year-end exams into ‘high stake’ events

KUALA LUMPUR: Teachers shouldn’t turn year-end exams into “high stake” exams, says the Education Minister.

Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said school tests should only be done to determine students’ mastery of the lessons.

These tests, he said, would not replace the Form Three Assessment (PT3) or Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), which have been abolished.

“Please don’t turn year-end exams or the final test of an academic term into high-stake exams. Otherwise, we go back to the same old circle (of students preparing for major public exams).

“Year-end exams or the last exam of the academic term do not replace the UPSR or PT3. Those two exams have been abolished, there’s no need to replace them,” he said during the Education Transformation Executive Talk held in Berjaya Times Square Hotel here.

Addressing education stakeholders, Radzi said final-year exams in schools should be treated as a typical exam.

Radzi previously said that the abolition of PT3 and UPSR will allow students to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in a more natural way.

Also present at the event was Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.