Work with us on Year Six assessment, Fadhlina tells Sarawak

FADHLINA SIDEK [MINISTRY OF EDUCATION] at Tapak Projek SJK(C) Regent Elmina majlis perasmian tapak projek SJK(C) Regent Almina—AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Any assessment at schools that will be carried out at the state level must get input from the Education Ministry, says Fadhlina Sidek.

The Education Minister said that assessments for students must be kept holistic and not be exam-oriented.

“What is in question here is the assessment and if it is kept holistic, and is not based on an exam,” she said when asked about Sarawak using its own assessment for its Year Six pupils.

The new assessment will be developed in place of the abolished Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), Sarawak has said.

“We will give our input to the Sarawak government through our state Education Department.

“If its framework to be developed is to strengthen assessment, for sure we will support it because it is the direction the ministry is taking – holistic development and assessment and not exam-oriented,” said Fadhlina, while thanking the state for placing a heavy emphasis on its education sector.

“We will continue to discuss how it (assessment) can be adjusted and maybe only enhanced at the school and state level,” she told reporters after attending the Palestine Solidarity Week at SMK Dato’ Ahmad Razali here yesterday.

The UPSR examination, which was a national assessment examination for Year Six pupils, was abolished in 2021 while the PT3 examination for Form Three students was in 2022.

Then education minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin said the ministry wanted to improve the school-based assessment (PBS) to replace the examinations to determine students’ academic performance.