More fun in learning for young pupils

No more exams in the first 3 years of school next year, progress to be gauged by classroom-based assessment

PUTRAJAYA: Classroombased assessment (CBA) will be strengthened for pupils in Level One (Year One, Two and Three) in all primary schools by focusing on fun learning and student- centred learning methods.

Education director- general Datuk Dr Amin Senin said CBA, which was introduced in 2011, would also build and reinforce the 4M basic skills of reading, writing, counting and thinking besides character building and developing the personality of pupils.

He said pupils were evaluated on an ongoing basis by various forms of assessment, which was part of the teaching and learning process, which includes an assessment of knowledge, skills and values.

“This means that from the beginning of next year there will be no more mid-year and year- end examinations and the focus will be on developing pupils’ learning and not emphasise on exams.

“This will enable parents to know

From the beginning of next year there will be no more midyear and year-end examinations and the focus will be on developing pupils’ learning and not emphasise on exams. Datuk Dr Amin Senin, Education Director-General

the strengths and weaknesses of the children and to determine the kind of support they can be provided,” he told reporters at a media briefing on CBA here yesterday.

Prior to this, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik had announced that examinations for Level 1 students would be abolished and replaced with a more objective assessment system beginning next year.

Commenting further, Amin said the assessment will replace formal examinations to create a more fun and meaningful learning culture where teachers can give more attention to the value of love, joy, respect and focus on developing the personality of individual students.

He said it was up to the creativity of a teacher to use various methods in evaluating his/ her students through activities such as quizzes, games, role playing, storytelling and simple projects.

However, he said teachers still have to report on the educational progress of their students to monitor the development of students based on certain scales.

“Parents need not worry about this form of formative evaluation because such an assessment has long been conducted. With the assessment, teachers will focus on the development of individual students,” he said, adding that they have been aware of parents’ concerns over the implementation of the CBA. – Bernama