PARLIAMENT | The Year Four exam is not meant to replace UPSR and PT3, but to personalise interventions for students, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said.
During her ministry's winding-up speech on the royal address debate, Fadhlina told Dewan Rakyat that data from the new exam will help teachers, schools, and her ministry understand the needs of students with greater accuracy so that targeted support can be provided much earlier.
"This means there is room for interventions to be implemented when students are in Year Five and Year Six, to help prepare students before entering secondary school and to face international assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa)," she said today.
The new assessment will be carried out centrally according to a schedule determined by the Education Ministry's Examination Board, Fadhlina added.
This is similar in format to the previously abolished national exams.
On Jan 20, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced the Year Four assessments as part of the National Education Blueprint 2026-2035.
The move has since courted mixed reactions, with supporters arguing that it would help improve discipline and literacy rates, while criticisms have also been raised regarding the policy’s “hasty implementation”, which is scheduled to begin in October this year.
While welcoming the reintroduction of a standardised primary school exam, experts have cautioned against a “high-stakes” approach, which could lead to unnecessary stress and anxiety and diminish the policy’s effectiveness.
Preparing for the future
Commenting further, Fadhlina framed the move as one that prepares younger generations for a world that has undergone profound technological changes.
She said Malaysia's scores in Timss and Pisa have been a "very big lesson" over how the country has prepared its children for the future.
"This is one of the important things that we take into account, bringing this learning matrix as another educational aspiration to strengthen them (children) at the international level," she explained.
According to a Bernama report from December 2024, Education Ministry director-general Azam Ahmad said the Timss 2023 report had found a decline in the average score achieved by students in both science and mathematics.
Similarly, Malaysia's ranking in the 2022 Pisa report was among the top five countries with the worst declines in reading, mathematics and science test scores, the Institute of Strategic and International Studies said.
"Since 2015, Malaysia’s Pisa scores have been on the decline, with average scores in all three subjects falling below the Asean-6 average in 2022.
"Our analysis suggests that Malaysia’s average Pisa scores are slightly lower than expected for its income level – signifying potential future challenges with human capital development, productivity and economic growth," the institute said in an article in 2024. - Mkini
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