Maszlee: Without exams, focus can be on character building

INTERVIEW | Abolishing examinations for Standard One to Standard Three pupils will allow for character building, according to Education Minister Maszlee Malik.

"This is the time when most parents are looking at the formative years of their children, where their children should be educated with character-building, not be burdened with examinations.

"They should be taught skills to equip and prepare them for the challenges ahead, because it is rather important for Standard One up to Standard Three to master not only reading, writing and counting but they must also be humane.

"This is what we lack compared to other developed nations," Maszlee told Malaysiakini in an interview in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

He pointed to developed countries like Finland, which does not have examinations for their students until the age of 16 or Grade 9.

He said Singapore has also announced scrapping examinations for Primary One and Primary Two pupils.

Children must not go to class with an empty stomach

Maszlee also addressed former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's criticism of his suggestion for a breakfast scheme for students from the Bottom 40 (B40) families.

"It shows that he (Najib) is not aware of the real things that happen on the ground.

"The Supplementary Food Budget (RMT) that he (Najib) mentioned was meant only for recess and not for breakfast," he said.

Najib had criticised Maszlee's proposal, saying the BN government had implemented a similar scheme for schoolchildren since 1979, referring to the RMT.

Maszlee reiterated that the RMT only provided meals during the recess period whereas his proposal was to provide breakfast for students before classes start for the day.

"When I visit schools, it hurts my heart that most of the children have not had breakfast before going to school and they go for classes with an empty stomach.

"They can only wait until (recess time) to enjoy RMT food," he said, adding that students battling hunger would not be able to concentrate in class.

Another of Maszlee's recent initiatives is to allow stateless children to attend government schools.

The minister clarified in the interview with Malaysiakini that he was referring to a specific category of stateless children.

Maszlee said he was talking about children who do not have documents for whatever reason but have unknown parents or at least one parent who is a Malaysian citizen.

"When I talk about undocumented children, people are thinking about refugees and undocumented immigrants which is not the case,” he added.

Maszlee said the children of refugees or undocumented immigrants would be addressed in the future when better immigration and infrastructure are in place.

"As far as the Education Ministry is concerned, our responsibility is to provide education to all children so that they will not be a problem for the country in the future.

"The facts show that most of the problematic citizens are those without proper education. So, if we want to look for a better future for Malaysia, we must make sure that all children in Malaysia are educated," he added. - Mkini