PUTRAJAYA: The drop in students’ performance in English Language, Science and Mathematics in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) 2013 is insignificant, says Education director-general Tan Sri Abd Ghafar Mahmud.
While regarding a rise or drop in examination performance as a normal thing, he said a drop of less than 0.5 of the Subject Grade Point Average was minimal.
“We hope with the various initiatives to be carried out, the UPSR results for these subjects will be better in the years to come,” he said after announcing the analysis of the UPSR 2013 results, here, yesterday.
In this year’s UPSR, students’ overall performance in the English Language subject at the national schools (SK) dropped by 0.06 point over last year’s figure.
Abd Ghafar said the ministry would give more attention to the matter and continue with various programmes and measures to improve primary school students’ proficiency in the English language.
Among the measures is requiring English Language teachers to sit for the Cambridge Placement Test and those who obtain certain marks are to attend a course to achieve the desired proficiency level.
“We will ensure that our students are proficient in the two languages – Bahasa Melayu and English. This is important and in line with the government’s implementation of the policy of Upholding Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthening English Usage (MBMMBI),” said Abd Ghafar. — Bernama