THE dour-looking participants trooped into the cavernous hall at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre and arranged themselves around a large oval table for the roundtable.
It was an overcast Tuesday morning and they were there for the second and final session organised by the Education Ministry to glean feedback on whether the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah and Penilaian Menengah Rendah examinations should be scrapped.
Thirty-three of the 100 attendees were picked by Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom, who chaired the session, to present their arguments. Most spoke over the allotted time and had to be “ding-dinged” off by a warning bell. The rest were told to fill in their thoughts on a form. The time given to each participant to speak might have been short but their message was clear — retain both exams.
The prevailing sentiment was why fix something that ain’t broke.
Some of the participants shared what they said during the session. Among them:
- “If the exams are scrapped, what kind of creature are we going to replace it with?”;
- “Set up a royal commission of inquiry on education”;
- “Are teachers ready? No, they are not.”;
- “We were shown several slides by the ministry of the new school-based assessment system in full detail before the session began. Does this mean there is already a decision to abolish?”;
- “We must first have a competent teaching workforce. If we do not, it does not matter what policy is introduced. It just won’t work. I’ve asked several teachers how events in World War 1 led to World War 2 and none of them could give me the answer. But ask them the dates and they have it.”;
- “I was called a Bengali (by some teachers). They can’t even tell the difference between Bengali and Punjabi.”;
- “The ministry is to be blamed to a certain extent for fanning the obsession with As. These days, we even have A+.”;
- “Students are not participating in sports not because the system is exam-oriented but because there are not enough facilities in schools.”;
- “Publishers will not be able to cope if school-based assessments are suddenly introduced. We need at least until 2012 to be ready.”; and,
- “Shouldn’t this question be answered by the experts and not all of us?”
Participants at the first roundtable on July 19 did not share the same views and said that the two exams should go. The composition of attendees differed vastly, however, and comprised senior officials of the ministry, state education directors, teachers unions and associations, principals, headmasters and school counsellors.
by Chok Suat Ling.
Read more @ http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/17sli/Article/