Fewer As in PT3 show ministry ‘manipulated’ PMR results, says education group

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) Malaysia chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim says whatever the faults are with PT3, it is a step in the right direction towards producing students with higher order thinking skills. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, December 25, 2014.

The smaller number of students getting straight As in their Form Three Assessment (PT3) results announced on Monday is an indication that the Education Ministry had been "manipulating results" all these years to ensure a string of As, claimed an education group.

It is also reflective of Malaysia's poor performance at international assessments like Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), where it has consistently languished in the bottom third, said Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) Malaysia chairperson Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim. 

Unconfirmed reports indicated only 80 students got straight As out of 450,000 candidates who sat for the PT3, which was held for the first time in October, as part of the government's improvements to the school-based assessment system.

In contrast, last year, 30,988 out of 422,506 students who sat for the now-abolished exam-oriented Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) scored straight As, an increase of 0.41% from 2012.

Unlike the PMR, all PT3 papers comprised subjective questions.

The tests were conducted and marked by teachers of the respective schools and students’ scores were moderated and verified by appraisers from the Examinations Syndicate and state education departments.

Students and parents have cried foul over the results, with many voicing their frustrations with the new and unfamiliar format and lack of time in preparing for it, prompting the ministry to say that unhappy students could appeal to their respective schools which would forward the matter to the district education office. 

Noor Azimah said the PT3 results reflected poorly on the ministry, as this showed it was "overly generous" with As in the past.

"If you have only 80 kids with straight As now, what does it tell you? It infers that they previously have been manipulating the results, lowering passing marks to give more As. This is false pretence, telling them they are good when they are in fact, not," she told The Malaysian Insider.

She said the lack of straight As scored in PT3 reflected Malaysian students’ performance in PISA and TIMMS.

According to the PISA's 2012 results, Malaysian students scored below average, ranking 52 out of 65 countries in Mathematics, Science and reading. In contrast, Vietnamese students ranked 17 out of 65.

Malaysia also ranked 39 out of 44 countries under PISA's first assessment on creative problem-solving, while neighbouring Singapore came out tops.

In TIMSS 2011, Malaysia’s ranking in Maths fell from 20th in 2007 to 26th in 2011 while its ranking in Science dropped from 21st in 2007 to 32nd in 2011. 

The average Maths score fell from 474 in 2007 to 440 and the average Science score plunged from 471 in 2007 to 426 in 2011.

However, Noor Azimah said PT3 was a step in the right direction for the education system to produce students with higher order thinking skills as opposed to the current rote-learning, spoon-feeding and memorising methods.

"Once we sort out the teething problems, this is the way to go to have a quality holistic education for our children.”

Education activist Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari criticised the ministry for deciding to implement the PT3 only in April, despite announcing in 2011 that the PMR would be abolished, and this caused much confusion among teachers and students.

"I wanted to ask the ministry, did they ever conduct a pilot study before they went ahead with PT3? Will they also do a post-mortem on the impact on PT3 after this?"

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Loke Yim Pheng said the body would collate feedback from both teachers and students following the low number of students who performed well in the PT3.

“We want to find out the root cause of the problem. Is it a problem with the system or human factors?

“We will gather the information and look at ways to improve PT3 or whether it should be continued and submit our suggestions,” she was quoted as saying by The Star.

- TMI