Malaysia: Lawmakers call for education revamp
Malaysia must implement immediate “radical” reforms to its education system to ensure its youths beat their regional peers at the next global student survey by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), two federal People’s Justice Party (PKR) lawmakers said on December 4, the Malay Mail reported.
They suggested that Malaysia suspends its School-Based Assessment System (PBS) and improve it, taking into consideration the problems identified as reasons behind Malaysia’s slump in the latest PISA rankings. They said schools should shift its focus to applications and the understanding of concepts when educating students, instead of emphasising on memorising facts without understanding the logic behind them.
The latest 2012 PISA results had been “shocking”, as it not only showed that Malaysia’ 15-year-old were nowhere capable of competing on an international level, but they also trailed behind their regional peers, especially Singapore, and some among whom come from less advanced economies.
In the PISA study, Malaysian students trailed far behind their peers in Singapore, who placed second behind top-scorers in Shanghai, China, and even 15-year-olds in Thailand, recording an average score of 421 for mathematics, which was below the 494 mean for countries within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) but above the 404 the country registered in the 2009+ edition.
Reading ability fell the most, plunging to an average of 398 in the 2012; Malaysian students in the previous edition had recorded a score of 414, while the current OECD average was 496.
Science scores saw a minor decline versus the older findings, with Malaysians weighing at an average of 420 marks against the 422 that the batch three years ago managed. Students in the 34 OECD countries received an average of 501. Malaysia was now ranked 55th for science, down two spots from the previous assessment. The combined results meant Malaysia was 52nd overall out of the 65 countries, and firmly entrenched in the bottom third of the survey.
Malaysia must implement immediate “radical” reforms to its education system to ensure its youths beat their regional peers at the next global student survey by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), two federal People's Justice Party (PKR) lawmakers said on December 4, the Malay Mail reported. They suggested that Malaysia suspends its School-Based Assessment System (PBS) and improve it, taking into consideration the problems identified as reasons behind Malaysia’s slump in the latest PISA rankings. They said schools should shift its focus to applications and the understanding of concepts when educating students, instead of emphasising on memorising facts without...
Malaysia must implement immediate “radical” reforms to its education system to ensure its youths beat their regional peers at the next global student survey by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), two federal People’s Justice Party (PKR) lawmakers said on December 4, the Malay Mail reported.
They suggested that Malaysia suspends its School-Based Assessment System (PBS) and improve it, taking into consideration the problems identified as reasons behind Malaysia’s slump in the latest PISA rankings. They said schools should shift its focus to applications and the understanding of concepts when educating students, instead of emphasising on memorising facts without understanding the logic behind them.
The latest 2012 PISA results had been “shocking”, as it not only showed that Malaysia’ 15-year-old were nowhere capable of competing on an international level, but they also trailed behind their regional peers, especially Singapore, and some among whom come from less advanced economies.
In the PISA study, Malaysian students trailed far behind their peers in Singapore, who placed second behind top-scorers in Shanghai, China, and even 15-year-olds in Thailand, recording an average score of 421 for mathematics, which was below the 494 mean for countries within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) but above the 404 the country registered in the 2009+ edition.
Reading ability fell the most, plunging to an average of 398 in the 2012; Malaysian students in the previous edition had recorded a score of 414, while the current OECD average was 496.
Science scores saw a minor decline versus the older findings, with Malaysians weighing at an average of 420 marks against the 422 that the batch three years ago managed. Students in the 34 OECD countries received an average of 501. Malaysia was now ranked 55th for science, down two spots from the previous assessment. The combined results meant Malaysia was 52nd overall out of the 65 countries, and firmly entrenched in the bottom third of the survey.
