More power for state and district education offices
THE administration of the Education Ministry will be revamped to give more authority to state education departments (JPN) and district education offices (PPD).
In the past, all decisions were made by the ministry before being passed down to the respective JPNs and PPDs, said minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
“With the restructuring, some of the decisions will be made at the JPN and/or PPD levels,” he said after his new year address to ministry staff in Putrajaya on Tuesday.
The minister said the Public Service Department approved the revamp last December, which was intended to fine tune administrative matters and reduce red tape.
Other key issues that the ministry will be addressing this year include minimising the workload of teachers.
Previously, teachers were unduly burdened by administrative duties.
Beginning this year, they will only be required to fill in students’ database applications (Aplikasi Pangkalan Data Murid) and information related to school-based assessments.
“Other applications involving school operations such as the education information management system (Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pendidikan) and online registrations will be done only by teachers appointed to carry out data entry – a group of teachers known as guru data and examination secretaries,” he said.
Mahdzir said the ministry will also focus on the continuous development of teachers through the Teacher Professionalism Development Plan.
“The plan will help motivate teachers and tap their skills and potential to the fullest.
“The plan is flexible enough to meet the needs and varying competencies of individuals, organisational requirements, and current standards in a systematic and integrated manner,” he added.
Further emphasis will be given to areas such as budget allocations and on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
“We will also look into having more holistic school-based assessments, and a new Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) format.
“The reality about the change in format for the UPSR is that it has only changed from objective questions to subjective questions,” Mahdzir said.
Pupils who sat for the UPSR last year were the first cohort of pupils who studied the new Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR), which began in 2011 for Year One pupils.
Deputy Education Ministers Datuk P Kamalanathan and Datuk Chong Sin Woon were also present at the event.