The DAP has accused the government of deliberately dumbing down the nation's education system just for the sake of image boosting, citing a new international study on science and mathematics to back the charge.

NONE "The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for Mathematics and Science has proven that the Education Ministry of has deliberately dumbed down our education syllabus and lowered our examination standards to produce more student passes and distinctions," said party national publicity secretary Tony Pua ( left) and its election strategist Ong Kian Ming in a joint statement today.

They added: "In the recently released 2011 TIMSS, Malaysia's ranking in Mathematics fell from 20th in 2007 to 26th in 2011 while our ranking in Science fell by an ever greater margin, from 21st in 2007 and 32nd in 2011."

According to them, the TIMSS studies showed that Malaysia ranked lowest in terms of marks scored from the 59 participating countries.

"Malaysia's average score for Mathematics fell 79 points form 519 in 1999 to 440 in 2011," said the duo.

Despite the low rankings in the TIMSS statistics, the DAP leaders said that the annual local results of students excelling in PMR and SPM scores continue to rise.

According to the ministry's Average National Grade (GPN), the pass rates and students obtaining As for Mathematics and Science have been rising progressively, they said.

"One cannot help but to conclude that firstly, the Education Ministry has been deliberately manipulating the Mathematics and Science standards for the PMR and SPM examinations to artificially boost the pass rates.

High marks from low standards

"Secondly, it also raises the obvious question that our education syllabus has been ‘dumbed down' so that more students will be able to do better for their examinations," said Pua and Ong.

Earlier this week, Pua, Ong and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar had urged Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to address the declining standard of Mathematics and Science, failing which he should resign.

NONE Pua and Ong ( right) slammed the ministry for lowering the standards of the subjects resulting in the deterioration of the country's education system which result in instudents not learning enough in school.

"The Education Ministry has over the years simplified the syllabus and lowered passing marks in order to give the perception of improving performance, which is measured by the number of passes and ‘A's achieved in these examinations," they said.

The New Education Blueprint (NEB) also came under fire for praising academic accomplishments instead of addressing the education system's deteriorating standards.

"If Muhyiddin fails to reverse the dumbing down process and start pushing up standards in our examination and syllabus, then he can be assured that not only the NEB will fail miserably, Malaysia will continue to drop down the TIMSS scores and ranking in the future," added the DAP duo.