Gerakan gave plaudits to the government for pulling the brakes on the flawed school-based assessment system (SBA) but it went on to call for an end to flip-flop education policies.

Gerakan's central education bureau chairperson Lau Chin Hoon ( right ) said the weakness of the SBA must be addressed immediately or it could just go the way of the “teaching of Science and Mathematics in English” (PPSMI) policy, which ended in 2009, after just six short years.

"If nothing is being at the core, and the factors behind it, the SBA might see its fate being identical to the PPSMI, which died prematurely.

"Indeed, a failure analysis of the PPSMI could be used as a benchmark to rescue the SBA," Lau said in a statement.

Rather than be thrown about by political arguments for and against the SBA, the government needs to do a deep analysis on the system, which drew protests from teacher groups and NGOs.

In response, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced over the weekend that the SBA system would be stopped until he was satisfied with some needed tweaks.

SBA cumbersome, time-consuming

Teachers have complained that SBA was cumbersome and time-consuming as they were required to feed much student data into its computerised system.

Lau said to get to the heart of the problem, the Education Performance and Delivery Unit (Padu), called for under the Education Blueprint unveiled last year, should be activated. Padu can then help drive the initiatives stated in the blueprint forward, he added.

Meanwhile, Negri Sembilan PAS Youth leader Nor Azman Mohamad also drew a similar conclusions and said the SBA must not turn into another failed experiment like the PPSMI.

"In our view, let the decision be made on a rational attitude and not only due to political pressure and to maintain the image and reputation of the government alone," Nor Azman said in a press statement.

After roundly criticizing the drop in Malaysia's education standards recently, as recorded by international surveys such as Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), he urged the government to stick to policies that work.

"The Ministry of Education should be bold enough to admit to weaknesses in the education system; that we are far behind and have strayed far from the actual national education philosophy.

"Do not gamble the future of our next generation by turning the country's education system into a laboratory experiment and do not let the teachers be exploited as experimental material," Nor Azman said.