The Education Ministry today gave an assurance that implementation of the School-Based Assessment (PBS) will be fair, especially in placement of students at boarding schools.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong said the ministry would  ensure quality of the students would be maintained while the syllabus was not too examination-oriented, despite the PBS replacing the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Peperiksaan Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations.

“Under PBS, the students will be assessed based on four components, namely assessment by the school, central assessment, sports, physical and co-curriculum assessment and psychometric assessment,” he said when replying to a  supplementary question from Lilah Yasin (BN-Jempol) at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Wee added that the the Malaysia Examination Board would also monitor  questionnaire standards and quality of marking by teachers.

Teachers are also required to follow the Standard Performance Documents (DSP) and not just depend on the grades in examinations, he said.

Earlier in replying to the original question from Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa (Pas-Parit Buntar), Wee said the newly improved UPSR and PMR examinations which are based on the PBS, would be implemented beginning 2016 and 2014 respectively.

He added that assessment would be carried out to see students’ progress,  check on the effectiveness of teaching and learning strategies and schools’ curricula.

- Bernama