Notwithstanding the pros and cons in the proposal to reform the educational system (e.g. exams vis-a-vis assessment, etc), one key issue is to minimise the element of subjectivity in the assessment of students, as this could negate efforts in promoting meritocracy – with its implications (e.g. objective and fair selection of primary school students into top secondary schools, etc. A modified form of objective and fair assessment at primary 6 level is still needed.

 

Leaving the assessment to individual schools will mean foregoing the usefulness of bench-marking against national standards. A certain student may be assessed well in his/her school, but he/she may not know where he/she stands compared to his/her peers on a state or national level.

 

To move away from the exam-orientation in the Malaysian education system, one proposal is to do away with trial exams and just let students sit for the real exam. It is not necessary to prepare the students for a trial exam before they take the real exam a few months later. Why subject the students to more stress and incur unnecessary public spending?

 

Another proposal is to do away with the PMR exam, as it may not serve much purpose, but retain the STPM exam (as objective and fair assessment is needed in applying for public universities, etc).  

 

Further, consider a semester-type of assessment, instead of one end-of-year final exam, as such one-off annual assessment may not mirror real-life situation where assessment tends to be periodical.