Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow
KUCHING (July 15): It is high time for Malaysia to take a bold step by doing away with its current examination-oriented education system, said an academician.
In this respect, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s Faculty of Syariah and Laws associate professor Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow said an assessment-based system would be more appropriate in this modern era.
“We can no longer rely on examination process to assess our students in school. We need to come up with other methods of assessment to effectively assess our students.
“There are many things that our students need to learn and master, rather than focusing entirely on matters that relate to theory and academics,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Highlighting the need for students to pick up many skills in order to compete and survive in today’s complex and highly-interconnected world, the professor said these skills would include social and communication skills, the know-how in using new and modern technologies, as well as critical thinking.
He added that these skills could not be learned and mastered through theoretical and academic process in a classroom, and neither could they be assessed via examinations.
“Every student needs to be assessed based on their capability and ability to learn and master certain skills.”
Muzaffar opined that abolishing the examination process could help reduce the level of stress and pressure faced by students.
“I have observed that students have been put under pressure to perform and obtain As for all the subjects they take during the exam. Those unable to score A would also be under pressure as they may feel that they’re not smart and have no hope of surviving and succeeding in this world.”
The academician said the parents should also be able to relax and no longer need to push their children to score A in their examinations.
“These eventually would prevent any unnecessary conflict between the parents and their children.
“There is also no need for parents to waste their time and energy on doing comparisons of their children’s academic achievements with those attained by other people’s children.”
Muzaffar thus suggested the Ministry of Education (MoE) to set up a special committee to look into doing away with the examination-oriented system.
He said such a committee should comprise experts in education, teachers as well as those from the relevant non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
He said the MoE could also do a survey among students nationwide, stressing: “The voice of our students must be heard first as they are the ones who will face all the actions and decisions taken by us.”
For the record, the primary-school level Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination and the Form 3 Assessment (PT3) examination were abolished in 2021 and last year, respectively.
Under the present secondary school education, students still need to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examinations.