PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has achieved the best performance in the Writing domain of the South-East Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2024.
The Education Ministry said Malaysian pupils achieved an average of 480.1 points in Writing—29.2 points higher than the regional average—making it the highest among all participating South-East Asian countries.
The results also showed that 21% of Malaysian pupils reached the top achievement band (Band 5 and above), compared to the regional average of 5%.
“This achievement shows the level of critical thinking in students which includes content, context and the process of presenting ideas in writing,” it said in a statement on Thursday (March 26).
However, the ministry said achievement gaps persist across socio-economic groups, gender, and differences between languages spoken at home and at school, posing a significant challenge to achieving more equitable education.
The SEA-PLM assesses Year Five pupils in four domains - Reading Literacy, Mathematics, Writing and Global Citizenship.
In Malaysia, the assessment involved 4,379 pupils from 158 primary schools, including national schools (SK), national-type Chinese schools (SJKC), Tamil national-type schools (SJKT), Orang Asli schools, government-aided religious schools, and private schools.
Results for the Reading Literacy and Mathematics domains were previously released in December last year.
“The Education Ministry is constantly striving to improve the quality of national education to meet international assessment standards, for the benefit of Malaysian children,” the statement read.
