‘The Education Ministry will make things worse by announcing excellent schools after each exam. So what do we want teachers to do, definitely teach to test and produce excellent results. Do parents care about fun learning or excellent grades?’
KUCHING: It was no surprise that many parents are not receptive to the idea of abolishing the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and the Form Three Assessment (PT3) in the national education system to make way for school-based assessments (PBS) as they do not understand it.
Sarawak Teachers’ Union President Adam Prakash Abdullah said there is not much publicity and explanation on the SBA assessment despite its implementation since 2011.
“We should not blame the teachers for this reaction (where parents are not receptive to the idea) as the policymakers are at the Education Ministry level where teachers have no say but just to implement policies,” he said.
“Our teachers have been working hard to ensure fun and effective learning in the classroom and always wanted their students to enjoy learning and do well in all their assessments,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
He was commenting on Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin’s recent remark that the implementation of PBS was not new as it has been around since 2011.
However, he added, teachers still focused too much on examinations to ensure students obtained excellent results.
“It has been in the system for more than 10 years, and if (after) 10 years (it) cannot be implemented, maybe 30 to 40 years later we are still not ready then. This (happens) because teachers’ focus is on exams, with a focus on ‘latihtubi’ (drills),” Radzi said.
However, Adam said the union hoped that the minister would be more kind with his words to the dedicated teachers and not blame them for every shortcoming.
“To say teachers are not ready is an understatement by the minister. It is the parents that the minister has to answer to,” he said.
Adam explained that though the school-based assessments (PBS) had been there since 2011, it was then a part of the student’s evaluation while teachers were directed to carry out the SBA before they were even given any formal guidance from the SBA management.
“In addition, the teachers (performance) and teaching and learning process are always judged by the students’ final marks or grades and parents expect their children to do well. We can’t blame them neither should we blame the teachers for working hard to achieve excellent results,” he said.
“This is what all our bosses want and the Education Ministry will make things worse by announcing excellent schools after each exam. So what do we want teachers to do, definitely teach to test and produce excellent results. Do parents care about fun learning or excellent grades?” he asked.
STU always supports the reformation of the education process and looks forward to an effective teaching and learning process and hopes that the standards of education is recognised and at par with the other developed countries.
“Surely, we hope to see the effective implementation of the school based assessment and hope the Education Ministry relooks into the curriculum to allow for fun learning,” he said, adding more road shows should be carried out to explain the implementation of SBA to parents in both the urban and rural areas.
“We believe continuous assessment is good if conducted effectively and honestly,” he said.
On another remark that the education system has been stagnant due to unwillingness to make changes, leaving other countries to surpass Malaysia in terms of education, Adam suggested the Education Ministry look at what had been happening at all levels of learning in the country.
He said using the abolishment of UPSR and the PT3 and its acceptance by the public as a yardstick was simply not justifiable.
Sarawak, he said, had progressed in terms of trying to assist students in attaining good grades.
“The state has had a shortage of qualified teachers for many years to date and with the big number of schools to cater for with difficult geographical circumstances to handle, how can we expect the students in the state to do well?”
“We are always at the bottom of the league but we never give up on our students. We thank the Sarawak government and the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) for their effort in helping students, teachers and the schools through the years even though this is the responsibility of the federal government,” he said.
Adam stressed that education was not stagnant in Sarawak and if it was considered so in the country, no one should ever blame the teachers.
He said teachers were the implementers of the everchanging education policy of the country and they had done exactly that till now.
STU, he said, appreciated all the teachers’ untiring effort to help the students and hoped they would continue their dedicated service to this noble profession.
