Decision to split UPSR English exam stays - Education DG

The Education Ministry will go ahead with its decision to split the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) English examination paper into comprehension and assessment starting next year despite calls from National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) to defer the implementation.

Director-General of Education, Datuk Seri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof, said the department had informed the public since 2010 that changes would be made into the UPSR English examination format by 2016.

He disclosed this at a press conference after launching the World's Largest Lesson programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Port Klang here, today.

Dr Khair was commenting on the statement made by NUTP president Hashim Adnan that the decision to split UPSR English Language (BI) paper for comprehension and assessment into two grades starting next year should be deferred as the time frame before implementation was just one year and it would be too short for both students and teachers to adjust to the new system.

He was reported to have said that a suitable time frame of two years would be more favourable to implement the new format.

Malaysian Examinations Board (MEB) director Datin Nawal Salleh had said previously, the BI test for comprehension and assessment was combined as one grade and only the Bahasa Melayu (BM) paper had two grades.

"The move to separate the grades for BI comprehension and assessment test is in line with efforts to improve English proficiency among the students," she said.

Dr Khair however said the new ruling would not affect the Key Performance Index of the teachers as it was measured based on teaching and learning process and not the students' performance in UPSR.

Commenting on the launching of World's Largest Lesson programme at SK Port Klang, Dr Khair said the initiative highlights the importance of global citizens engaging in sustainable living and working together to achieve the Global Goals.

The initiative, he said, was launched in support of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development launched at the United Nations Sustainability Development Summit in New York on Sept 25.

The lesson conducted by Dr Khair for students of SK Port Klang was brodcast live through Frog Connected Classrooms, allowing students in 10,000 schools in Malaysia as well as classrooms around the world to access the lesson in real-time from their respective school online facilities made through the effort of 1BestariNet project.

Meanwhile, Programme Director of YTL Foundation, Datin Kathleen Chew, said the World's Largest Lesson programme was conducted in conjunction with the launch of the Frog Classroom at SK Port Klang, which is an initiative of YTL Foundation in collaboration with YTL Communications and the Parent-Teacher's Association of the school.

"The Frog Classroom will allow students to have access to information far beyond the physical limits of the classroom like sourcing information from internet and attend online webseminars which allows them to learn from experts no matter where they are located," she added.