Kuala lumpur: The Education Ministry's move to study the need to revive the Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (PT3) and the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examinations has received positive feedback from academics, who also suggested several improvements.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Senior lecturer at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Dr Yap Soon Li said that if the National Education Advisory Council (MPPK) recommends reintroducing both examinations, it should not be seen as a step backwards, but as a systematic realignment within the national education assessment landscape.
Dr Yap pointed out that in many international education systems, assessment reform is cyclical, not linear. The focus should be on redesigning the functions of centralised exams to support meaningful learning rather than viewing them as outdated or innovative. He explained that UPSR and PT3 previously served as national benchmarks for monitoring students' mastery of basic literacy, numeracy, and academic readiness, but their main weakness was an overly exam-oriented approach that encouraged 'teaching to the test' and caused excessive stress.
He suggested that if reintroduced, UPSR and PT3 should integrate summative assessment for system monitoring with formative assessment to support continuous student development. Yap also emphasized the need for exam questions to shift from recall-based formats towards Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), reasoning, and real-world application of knowledge, aligning with international frameworks like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Dr Yap mentioned that examination results should not be high-stakes, single-point judgements but should be combined with school-based assessment data for a more holistic evaluation of students. He highlighted the need to strengthen assessment literacy among teachers, as without systematic training to interpret exam results and use them to enhance teaching, any assessment reform will fail at the implementation stage.
He also advocated for the ethical use of technology and data analytics to identify student weaknesses, learning gaps, targeted support, and focused interventions. He asserted that the reintroduction of UPSR and PT3 would be meaningful only if accompanied by a paradigm shift that includes 'assessment for and as learning' in a balanced manner, aligning with the objectives of the Malaysian Education Development Plan and 21st-century education demands.
Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Malaysian Inclusive Development and Advancement Institute (MINDA) deputy director Dr Anuar Ahmad stated that reintroducing UPSR and PT3 is appropriate for measuring students' actual achievement at each schooling level and ensuring the effectiveness of the national education system. He noted that UPSR served as a checkpoint to assess children's learning outcomes at the primary level, with PT3 evaluating achievement at the lower secondary level, followed by SPM at the upper secondary level.
Dr Anuar highlighted that the current school-based assessment system faces challenges, such as large class sizes, which complicate effective assessment. He cautioned against repeating past mistakes where UPSR and PT3 became competitive platforms, negatively affecting students' emotional and mental well-being.
He emphasized that UPSR and PT3 should be tools for identifying students' achievement levels after a learning period, allowing for early support and interventions, particularly for those struggling with reading, writing, and numeracy skills. The goal is to measure each student's ability according to their level or potential rather than identifying the smartest students. He also suggested that there is no need for the ministry to announce the best-performing schools or brand excellence solely based on exam results.
Recently, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek stated that the ministry has activated the MPPK to study the need to revive UPSR and PT3. Both assessments were abolished in 2021 and 2022, respectively, and replaced by school-based assessment.