Khaled Nordin: Consider alternatives before cancelling UPSR, PT3

Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin has urged the Education Ministry to exhaust all possible ways and alternatives before cancelling the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (PT3).

“It surely was a decision that has gone through much consideration. However, I have a slightly different perspective. I believe the Education Ministry should come up with an exit strategy that is more comprehensive by utilising various creative solutions.

“We must exhaust all methods and alternatives before we cancel UPSR and PT3. We need to accept the fact that, even though the movement control order (MCO) has become the norm, education and evaluation is also very important in an education system.

“It is just that we have to implement it now in a different method without cancelling it,” Khaled (photo) said in a statement today.

He brought up a Channel News Asia report on April 15 which said that "intermittent circuit breakers" may be an important strategy which all governments should consider.

What this means, he said, is that the MCO needs to be implemented in turn by using the ‘switch on and switch off strategy.

Khaled suggested that the ministry look into how other countries such as Germany, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have carried out their major examinations in the midst of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Maybe we should consider that all cohorts who are sitting for (national) examinations to be prioritised, whether by allowing them to go to school or by preparing the examinations online,” he said.

He also acknowledged that it is true that 40 percent of students do not have devices for online learning.

But it is because of this that the ministry should come up with a solution to prepare such devices and prioritising the cohorts about to face the national examinations, he said.

There are also many areas in Malaysia which are in the green zone and there are ways to identify red zones, he said.

Perhaps the government could consider allowing those in the green zones to take the exams as planned, while those in the red zones and surrounding areas should be allowed to postpone the exams.

“In such unusual times, our solutions should not take the approach of ‘one size fits all’,” he said.

Education, including higher education, must not be stopped in whatever situation as it is a main source to any country’s durability, he said.

Postponing the intakes for universities is “counter-productive”, he said, because all of it could be done online.

International universities with a Malaysian campus as well as private colleges have already switched to registering new students online and they have started teaching online as well, he said.

“As such, the new intake at all levels of higher education should take place as has been set.

“Our matriculation centres and public universities should not have the excuse of being unable to operate online seamlessly,” he said.

Yesterday, Education Minister Radzi Jidin had announced that the UPSR and PT3 examinations for this year will be cancelled while all intakes at public universities will be postponed to next year. - Mkini