‘New ranking system means more work for school staff’

THE National Headmasters Union welcomes the Education Ministry’s adoption of a new ranking system for schools from this year but expresses concern over the additional workload for school staff involved in the rating system.

Union chairman Wong Shee Fatt said the new system allows for peace of mind for schools with poorer academic performance as good marks in non-academic areas will ensure that they will not be ranked too far behind, Nanyang Siang Pau reported yesterday.

“Before this, only the headmasters and senior assistants were involved in grading their schools.

“The new system is more broad-based and the grading is done three times a year instead of one. As the new system involved more areas and items, it means more work and additional pressure for school staff involved,” he said.

The Standard Kualiti Pendidikan Malaysia Gelombang 2 (SKPMg2) launched this year categorises public primary and secondary schools from Band 1 to Band 7 based on their performance.

Band 1 is for top performers while Band 7 is for low-performing schools.

Wong said under the new system, academic performance is no longer used as the main criterion for grading schools. Focus will be on other areas, such as school administration and student discipline.

Previously, academic achievement accounted for 70% of the rating. The new system will reduce that to a much smaller percentage, he said.