PETALING JAYA: A diagnostic test to determine if a five-year-old child is ready to start primary school is not the problem.
The real problem, say parents, is the flip-flops by the Government.
They are also upset that children are being used as test subjects.
Eline Sheeta Anthony, 36, said sudden policy changes would take a toll as parents and children need to prepare if they are supposed to suddenly start school a year earlier.
“Everything is going to be messy,” she said.
“Even if you remove this diagnostic test, the problem remains that not all six-year-olds will be ready to enter Year One next year.
“More so if they are children who may not even have attended kindergarten,” said the senior operations manager.
She also wanted to know how schools would cope with two different age groups, with two different development milestones, in the same classroom.
“Are the six-year-olds and seven-year-olds going to be segregated into different classrooms?” Eline asked.
She was commenting on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s announcement yesterday that the proposed diagnostic screening test to assess children’s eligibility for entry into Year One at the age of six had been scrapped.
A week ago, the Prime Minister had said that children would begin pre-school at the age of five and enter Year One at six starting in 2027. However, the children would have to first pass a special diagnostic test.
Assistant manager Mandy Wong, 37, said the assessment would have helped her determine if her five-year-old son would be ready to enter Year One.
“I do not mind sending my child to Year One, but I have to be sure that he is ready,” she said, adding that beyond academics, she also needs to ensure he can manage himself independently. She does not expect the teachers to be looking after his needs.
Wong said the government should think things through before making announcements.
“Every decision affects our future plans,” she stressed.
Financial advisor Siti Afiqah Mansor, 31, said that without this diagnostic test, parents would not know if a child was really ready.
“Are we going to have more children with mental health issues because of this?” she asked.
Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said that if six-year-olds entered Year One without any form of diagnostic or readiness assessment, the system would be “essentially flying blind”.
“At that age, children have very uneven starting points – language exposure, fine motor skills, attention span, emotional maturity, even basic routines like sitting through a lesson.
“A diagnostic assessment isn’t about labelling or streaming; it is about knowing who needs what,” she said, adding that the idea of enrolment at the age of six was not an unreasonable one.
“Many countries do formal schooling at six, but the key difference is that their Year One is developmentally appropriate – play-based, language-rich, with strong support for social and emotional adjustment.
“If Year One simply stays ‘exam-lite but still academic-heavy’, then six is actually too young,” Noor Azimah added.
Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) chairman Mak Chee Kin questioned why there was no proper study or planning done before this initiative was announced.
“The Government should do all their homework first and then implement the idea at a later time,” he said, stressing that children should not become test subjects.
MCA Youth leader Ling Tian Soon had earlier raised concerns over the plan, adding that without proper preparation, young children’s learning adaptation and psychological development may be adversely affected.
Penang MCA secretary Yeoh Chin Kah had also pointed out that if both six- and seven-year-olds were in Year One, the differences in learning ability could make teaching more challenging and classrooms harder to manage.
National Teachers Service Union of Malaysia (NUTP) secretary-general Fouzi Singon, meanwhile, said it was a good decision to scrap the diagnostic test.
