No More PMR, But Form 3 Students Will Now Take The PT3

The new exam system that will replace the PMR for Form Three students this year is open to bias and abuse, and could jeopardise the future of children from poorer families, said an education activist today.

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Mohd Noor Izzat Mohd Johari (pic) said that unlike the old system, where the Form Three exam is produced and graded by an independent body outside the school, the new one, PT3 or Form Three Assessment, will be done by the teachers of each individual schools.

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Since PT3 results are used by students to apply to elite schools such as residential schools and the MARA junior science colleges, richer, more well off parents could pressure teachers into giving their children better grades. “This is the situation that we are afraid will happen. When parents come to school and ask that teachers ‘take care’ of their kids,” said Mohd Noor Izzat who teaches art at a secondary school in Pahang.

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Noor Izzat said this was a big worry for teachers after the PT3 was announced yesterday by the Education Ministry as part of its improvements to the school based assessment system (PBS). Noor Izzat said the fear is that well-connected parents will be able to influence teachers and their school, leaving students from poorer families at a disadvantage.

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While some improvements to the SBA, such as the reduced workload for teachers have been welcomed, Noor Izzat said some of the changes did not solve some of the system's others weaknesses. Most notably how to ensure students actually understand what is being taught them. The main problem Noor Izzat insisted again, is class size and the teacher to student ratio, which is normally one teacher to 40 students.

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Nor Izzat, however, defended the SBA’s noble aim of ensuring that every student, regardless of family background and academic ability, is given the attention they need to understand and apply what they learn in school to real life. "The SBA is a very good system and its aims are very noble. It’s good that we are implementing it but we are not tailoring it to our local context," he added.

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The PMR, which was introduced in 1993 to replace the Sijil Rendah Pelajaran examination, was held for the last time in 2013.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) or Lower Secondary Assessment examination would be replaced with Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) or Form 3 Assessment, beginning this year.

The Deputy Prime Minister said through the implementation of improvements in the Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah (PBS) or School-Based Assessment on Apr 1, there would no longer be any centralised examination for Form 3 students implemented at the school level.

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“PT3 replaces PMR. There is some form of assessment at the school level,” he added.

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He said PT3 would be used as the basis to determine the entry of students into Form 4 in fully residential schools, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama, Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM), including Sekolah Menengah Teknik (SMT), and vocational colleges.

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“Besides PT3, entry into these schools will also be based on the psychometric test to ensure that the selection and emplacement of students suited their capability and interest,” he told a press conference at Parliament House here today.

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Muhyidddin, who is also the Education Minister, said this at a special media conference which was also attended by the major players in the country's education system such as the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) at Parliament House, here Monday.

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“This means there is no centralised examination for Form Three students as in previous years,” he told reporters when announcing the changes made to the school-based assessment (PBS) after a meeting with teaching unions.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said students would be assessed via written and oral tests for Bahasa Melayu and English.

"The Science, Mathematics, Islamic Education, Living Skills, Arabic, Chinese, Tamil, Iban and Kadazandusun language subjects will use the written test assessment instruments only.

"The History and Geography subjects will be assessed using various instruments such as written assigments, practical tests, projects, field studies or case studies," he said.

The written tests would be held in October while History and Geography would be assessed throughout the year.

“The Examinations Syndicate will prepare questions with different levels of difficulty from easy, moderate to hard and place them in a question bank. Schools can then choose these questions and use them when they are assessing the students via the written tests,” he said.

He said the syndicate would monitor schools to ensure they chose the questions which reflected the levels of difficulty and that no school chose questions that were all considered easy.

He said that through the PT3, the schools would administer, assess and provide the score on the assessment based on the instruments and significant scoring regulation guide provided by the Examination Board (LP).

Muhyiddin said that the LP and the external evaluator appointed by the LP would implement the moderation and verification before the report was released.

He said the Examinations Syndi­cate and a team of outside assessors would moderate and verify the results. “This is to ensure there is consistency among marks given while verification is to ensure students get the marks they deserve,” he said.

Muhyiddin said students and their parents could approach the schools to see their performance in the PT3 and to obtain a results slip, which would be used for entry to Form Four as well as for applications into fully residential schools, religious secondary schools, Mara Junior Science College, technical secondary schools and vocational colleges.

Unlike in previous years when the ministry would announce the results of the PMR in November, Muhyiddin said it was up to the individual schools to decide when to release the results of the PT3.

He said the abolishing of the current online centralised system for School Based Assessment, which required teachers to key in students’ records, would reduce the workload of teachers. “It had been pointed out that it was a burden for teachers to key in online all important data into a centralised system. Now, this is not necessary,” he said, adding that teachers could enter the data at their own time based on their workload.

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Teachers can keep the data for their own assessment and produce it to update parents on the students’ progress. “The school can prepare a performance report, by holding monthly tests, mid-year examination or final-year examination,” he added.

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The SBA system was introduced to primary school pupils in 2011 and extended to secondary school students in 2012.

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