About 5% of primary school pupils still unable to master 3M skills, says Fadhlina

Photo: Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: About 5.65% of pupils who are in Year Two and Year Six, are still unable to master the basic literacy skills of reading, writing and counting, said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek (pic).

“The Education Ministry has realised that the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted studies as students could not attend physical classes,” she said in a parliamentary written reply dated March 6.

“From our screening on 3M (reading, writing and counting) as at end of 2023, it showed that 5.65% of Year Two pupils and Year Six pupils have yet to master the basics compared to 7.75% as at end of 2022,” he said.

Fadhlina said that the ministry is confident pupils will be able to master the basic literacy skills with strategic measures and intervention programmes in primary school.

She was responding to a question by Sabri Azit(PN-Jerai) on the illiteracy rate post-Covid-19.

The ministry had previously said that the learning loss caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the main reasons for Malaysia's lower scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa).