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PETALING JAYA: The reintroduction of Year 6 and Form 3 exams will not improve students’ reading, writing and arithmetic skills (3Rs), according to education experts.

Ainol Madziah Zubairi, a lecturer at International Islamic University Malaysia’s education faculty, said the 3Rs issue stems from poor early literacy which can only be addressed through classroom assessments and teaching methods that are not exam-oriented.

We need to return to the basics, where the curriculum must be strengthened in the areas of 3Rs literacy, self-identity, futuristic thinking, proper etiquette, culture, and a sense of belonging to the country, she told FMT.

Bringing back exams will not solve the problem.

Ainol was asked if a reintroduction of the UPSR and PT3 examinations should be part of the revamp of the education policy proposed by deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid previously said the two exams, which had been scrapped, had served as benchmarks to gauge the education levels of students before they sat for the SPM examination and chose their fields in furthering their studies.

He said he had held discussions with the education and higher education ministries previously regarding the case of 10,177 students not sitting for their SPM last year because of problems in 3Rs.

Ainol pointed out however that students who did not sit for their SPM post-Covid-19 went through a unique situation caused by the disruption of teaching and learning for three consecutive years.

Noor Azlan Ahmad Zanzali of Universiti Muhammadiyah Malaysia said the 3Rs issue faced by students is about ineffective teaching and learning, not the lack of centralised exams.

He said assessments should serve as a tool to improve learning, not merely as a measure of learning.

We should start implementing ‘assessment for learning’, not ‘assessment of learning’, he said.

Anuar Ahmad of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia agreed that a revamp of the education policy was needed as the current system was ineffective.

He said schools were using the curriculum developed when the UPSR and PT3 were still used to assess students. The exams were abolished in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

“If we want to implement classroom-based assessment, the curriculum must be designed for classroom-based assessment.

A curriculum designed for exams would be heavier and lead to students memorising, studying and being drilled to answer exam questions, he said.