PBS to go ahead end of March, says Kamalathan

The improved school-based assessment (PBS) application system is set to be implemented at the end of this month, said Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan.

He said the implementation of PBS was postponed due to various complaints on its methodology and computer system by teachers.

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said PBS had to be postponed until April as the Education Ministry needed to evaluate the problems of recording student details in the system data base.

Kamalanathan said PBS has been made more teacher-friendly with less parameters needed to be keyed in apart from improving the system to enable faster access.

"The ministry is aware of all problems as the Hotline and the operations room in Putrajaya were innundated with more than 10,000 feedbacks from teachers nationwide," he said.

He told reporters this after presenting a briefing on the 2012-2015 Malaysia Education Blueprint preliminary report and dialogue with staff and students of Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) at its campus in Pauh Putra, 30 km from here on Friday.

While PBS is also a transformation from being examination oriented to a more holistic assessment system, teachers have alleged of being bogged down by the computer application system which broke down frequently.

"Muhyiddin who is the Education Minister has been firm on PBS being implemented without causing much problems to teachers. I am confident teachers will not complain after this as their problems have been addressed," he said.

On the 2013-2035 Malaysia Education Blueprint, Kamalanathan said he would be touring all local public and private universities to explain the government's objectives and nation's education direction.

He said the plan would be difficult to achieve if graduates did not understand its essence and the intention of the government to achieve world class education for the people.