This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 19, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry should ensure that the Form 3 Assessment (PT3) — which is 40% school-based assessment and 60% examination-based — is successful before thinking about applying a similar format to the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR), the teachers’ union says.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Hashim Adnan said implementing such a format now would only invite problems, because teachers and students are still trying to familiarise themselves with the PT3 concept introduced in 2014.

“We have yet to see what is in the ministry’s proposal. Many students and parents were unhappy when PT3 replaced the Penilaian Menengah Rendah,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

He said the ministry should not be hasty in implementing the format for UPSR as it would not benefit pupils in the long run.

“The losers here will be the pupils. They will become the victims.

“If there are still many unresolved problems in PT3, how can we implement such a format for UPSR?” he asked.

Hashim said the NUTP was not against the ministry’s plan to improve the education system, but felt that the risk was too high if done hastily.

“[The] NUTP is not hindering any education development plan. We just want weaknesses within the PT3 to be settled before moving on with changes to UPSR,” he said.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid last Tuesday reportedly said the ministry would meet all stakeholders in stages this year to get their views on the proposal.

He said the proposal to change the UPSR examination to a school-based assessment could materialise in one to two years. — The Malaysian Insider