Malaysia is capable of improving its position in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 through the implementation of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (PPPM), hence be on par with international standards.

The Education Ministry in a statement here today, said the PPPM would help the country in facing existing challenges and transforming the national education system to meet the demands of the more competitive global economy.

"Although the results of PISA 2012 were not so encouraging, the ministry is confident that Malaysia is capable of getting a better position in PISA 2015 through the implementation of PPPM, which was launched on Sept 6," the statement said.

The ministry would continue to be committed to take the efforts and initiatives to put the national education system among the top one-third of the best education systems in the world.

The statement said Malaysia had participated in PISA for the first time in 2010 (2009+) where approximately 5,000 students from 154 schools were assessed.

The ministry had also identified the weaknesses in the existing curriculum, which gave little emphasize on Higher Order Thinking Skills (KBAT) and caused students to have less ability to apply the skills when answering the assessment questions.

According to the statement, as an immediate move, the ministry had set up the Committee on Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and PISA, led by the ministry's Curriculum Development Division.

The committee would identify and monitor the initiatives needed to be implemented for a programme for international student assessment like that.

One of PPPM's initiatives to boost Malaysia's performance in TIMSS and PISA was to develop the exercise modules for Mathematics and Science to close the gap in the content and skills tested in PISA and TIMSS, as well as their question formats.

The ministry had also upgraded KBAT-related initiatives and improved teachers' skills in a bid to boost the results of the learning process for all students.

The statement also said that in order to make the initiative a success, the ministry would be updating the curriculum for primary and secondary schools so that they would be on par with international standards.

The new Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) and Secondary School Standard Curriculum would be launched in 2017, according to the statement.

"Besides, the ministry has also improve and upgrade the national assessment system by inserting elements of KBAT in school examinations. In 2016, 40 per cent of KBAT questions will be inserted in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination, while another 50 per cent in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination," the statement said.

The ministry was also in the midst of intensifying support for teachers by organising various skill enhancing programmes, such as the i-Think programme.

"Apart from that, the Literacy and Numeracy Screening (Linus 2.0) programme is also expected to help Malaysia in improving the results of TIMSS and PISA," the statement added.