Fadhlina: MOE constantly finetuning classroom assessment

The Education Ministry is constantly improving the classroom assessment method to ensure its implementation remains effective, said its minister Fadhlina Sidek.

Fadhlina said the process to strengthen the assessment is ongoing, including holding engagement sessions with experts, stakeholders, and parents.

“Both processes of strengthening the assessment are ongoing and are constantly being improved, even we at ministry also refer to experts and at the same time ensure that the teachers are trained in preparing themselves and are engaged in ways to strengthen classroom assessment.

“This is to ensure that they (teachers) are promoted in terms of their performance, competence, and merit to make assessments as well as deal with parents to make them understand how the assessment is carried out,” she said here today.

Fadhlina, who is Nibong Tebal MP, was met after closing the engagement session with the Penang School Board and cheque presentation for Early School Assistance (BAP) today.

Fadhlina was asked to comment on the ministry’s efforts on how and what it was streamlining with regard to the implementation of classroom assessment in schools.

Earlier, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior lecturer for the Study of Diversity in Education Anuar Ahmad was reported to have said that PBD was a good step forward but warned that if it is implemented incorrectly, then there will be confusion among teachers and parents while on the receiving end, students will be the victims.

He was also reported as saying that teachers were also unable to implement classroom assessment effectively due to the excessive number of students in classrooms, thus hampering their mastery of a subject.

Commenting further, Fadhlina said it was important to make all parties understand, especially parents, how the assessment of students is carried out by teachers in schools.

She said classroom assessment was the best way to ensure a holistic process of evaluating the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical, and social (harmonious) aspects of students in accordance with the National Education Philosophy to produce knowledgeable citizens with high morals to contribute to society.

Meanwhile, Fadhlina said the Education Ministry is actively distributing BAP cheques in all schools and the handing over of the assistance had started since Jan 10 and the distribution of monetary aid is expected to be completed by Feb 11.

“The federal government had allocated RM788.17 million for BAP to assist 5.5 million students nationwide,” she said.

- Bernama