MOE looking into appropriate approaches to improve students' literacy

Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said the matter needed to be given attention as there were some students who were still poor at reading, despite having entered secondary school.

"This is not a new thing but it has been around even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. This is a major challenge for us (the ministry) and I have discussed with the Education director-general to look into different approaches, to address the issues.

"...perhaps, the syllable-based approach that we have been adopting is a bit difficult for students to understand. So we are working on that to ensure early interventions can be done," he told a press conference after officiating the 29th National Seminar on Educational Management and Leadership at the Aminuddin Baki Institute, here today.

Meanwhile, Radzi said the ministry was aware of the allegations that there were teachers who had to 'cheat' by giving higher marks to students just to ensure their key performance indicators (KPIs) were achieved.

"We have to understand, the comments (marks) given by the teachers are based on their justification. So for us to say that this teacher is cheating or vice-versa, is a rather subjective thing.

"But I do not deny that this may happen and we are also aware that there is a need for us to move together to understand what we want to achieve or produce from the education system," he said.