UPSR: Let sensibility prevail

THE Education Ministry’s recent decision to abolish the centralised Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) is a move in the right direction.

The UPSR had been highly emphasised and given much attention by teachers and parents alike, resulting in a lot of pressure on children to perform well.

Schools that did not meet expectations were required to present show cause letters of their poor performance to the district education department and the Ministry.

And so, to achieve excellence in the examination, headteachers were known to slave-drive their teachers who, in turn, did the same to their pupils.

To prepare the 12-year-olds for the UPSR, schoolteachers would drill and grill them in the examination procedure and testing.

For months, the children were put through a rigorous and stringent learning and teaching process.

The UPSR was primarily used to gauge how the Year Six children had progressed from Year One.

It became a measure of their performance and competency.

A written examination can only test the mental intelligence of a child. We need to move away from placing too much importance on academic excellence.

This is going to be an uphill task because it has been deeply rooted in our mindset that grades and As matter, especially as a prerequisite to enter good schools and land better-paying careers.

The examination procedure and the manner in which it was conducted were taxing to Year Six children.

Big schools with many pupils used their school halls as examination centres while smaller schools used their classrooms.

The examination classes were usually at a secluded block where there was no disturbances and noise from the other children.

Huge signboards of “Examination in Progress” or “Do Not Enter” were placed at various pathways to cordon off the area.

The examination was conducted by a chief invigilator aided by others who were teachers from neighbouring schools.

These invigilators were responsible for getting the examination papers every day from either the education department or from the strong room of a secondary school, depending on their proximity.

The examination was conducted strictly following the examination code of ethics.

For the Year Six pupils, sitting in the examination hall or classroom in the midst of invigilators is stressful.

Teachers of the school were not allowed anywhere near the block during the examination.

Big schools had many examination invigilators.

If the examination was conducted in a classroom, two or three invigilators were usually assigned to it, depending on the number of pupils.

A classroom would usually accommodate up to 20 pupils and two invigilators would be tasked to conduct the examination.

However, if there were less than 10 UPSR candidates in a class, two invigilators would be able to conduct the examination with a chief invigilator.

This was the scenario in low enrolment schools with less than 150 pupils each.

There are 132 schools in the country with less than 20 pupils, and 44 schools with less than 10 pupils.

In these schools, the UPSR class would have between two and four pupils. Some low enrolment schools might even have one UPSR pupil sitting alone in the classroom.

There had been cases in low enrolment schools where four invigilators are present. This would include a chief invigilator.

All four invigilators were tasked with supervising two pupils in a classroom. Imagine the pressure on the two pupils as they were surrounded by three or four strangers giving them instructions and watching them with eagle eyes.

Whether they obtained all As or all Es, the pupils would get to move up to Form One. Even so, there were cases of 12-year-olds who had taken their lives due to their poor UPSR results.

Contrary to the centralised examination, a school-based assessment will be able to adopt tools to measure the development of a child’s physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social development more holistically.

I hope to see fun, adventurous and discovery mode types of learning returning to the primary classrooms.

Teachers will not need to prepare children for a major examination and can therefore put creativity back in learning and teaching.