KUCHING: The abolition of the secondary school streaming system needs further discussed before it is implemented, said Universiti Malaya (UM) political analyst Associate Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi.
He was commenting on the Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s recent announcement to abolish the streaming system next year.
On the current streaming system, Dr Awang Azman said,”Some students who were interested in the literature stream had to enter the science stream.
“However, for those who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses after their Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) exam, they need to take subjects like Additional Mathematics to enter Medicine and Engineering Courses.”.
He said without the guidance of a counselling teacher in the schools, students might miss the compulsory courses because they were more interested in taking other subjects in Form 4 and 5.
Dr Awang Azman acknowledged the openness of education policy and the crucial roles played by the counselling teachers, parents and the school in ensuring that the students did not miss the basic need of universal freedom in choosing their subjects of interest.
“There is a need for independent leadership to balance this situation, to ensure that interests and needs can be balanced in terms of the country’s needs and the filling of the national education system,” he added.
On Oct 14, during a working visit to Germany Dr Maszlee said he would push for the end of streaming next year after the students received their Form Three Assessment (PT3) results.
On Sunday, he clarified that the Education Ministry was not pushing to end the streaming of subjects for Form Four students next year until consultation with stakeholders and a proper review of the proposal were conducted.
