Students burdened by syllabus, not exams – Mustafa
He said a syllabus developer who understands curriculum content and children's psychology will create a reasonable curriculum that could be completed within a year.
SHAH ALAM - The Education Ministry needs to consider reviewing and reducing the syllabus to allow students more time to master specific subjects.
Dewan Negara member Datuk Mustafa Musa said that examinations were not actually burdensome, but the syllabus affected the psychological well-being of children.
He said a syllabus developer who understood curriculum content and children's psychology would create a reasonable curriculum that could be completed within a year.
"Schools have 190 days in a year, but much of that time is spent on programmes and other activities. After subtracting those, how many days are left?
"So, what happens in the end is that the pressure comes from the syllabus being too extensive and dense, not from the exams themselves," he said.
He made these remarks during the 458th Sinar Wacana titled "UPSR, PT3: Finding the Best Alternative," held at Studio F, Karangkraf Complex, here on Wednesday.
Mustafa said that examinations were a normal process, but if the syllabus was reduced, students would have more time for practice and homework.
"For example, one topic may be given four weeks for students to learn until they master it. But now, before they even master one topic, the teacher moves on to a new one the following week.
"So, the issue isn't the pressure from exams, but rather the syllabus being too dense and packed," he said.
He added that if some think Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD) did not cause stress, an overloaded syllabus would still exert pressure.
Commenting further on the proposal to reinstate the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga (PT3) with the assessment format of the Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM), Mustafa said that assessments could be adjusted according to current needs.
"If we feel that the 'one-off' system is outdated, we can modify it as has been done with the STPM. What’s important is that there must be a form of centralised assessment at the end of a learning period, such as UPSR.
"We need to know whether students have mastered the content, which is why there needs to be a centralised exam to clearly determine where our children stand at the national level," he said.
