The dominant factor which has caused schools to focus

too much on examination due to tough competitions

among the schools .in Malaysia. School are fighting
against each other to appear as the top school in
Malaysia. The qualifications that are required to
become a cluster school is the students should pass
their exams with flying colours.Consequently, this have
driven many schools to focus more on examinations
especially public examinations such as PMR,SPM and
UPSR. Schools encourage the notion that collecting
maximum As,is what life is all is about.As a result
,school have become like a race where parents place
their bet on the horses,their children.They go all out
spending valuable time,money and energy to ensure
that their children win the race with flying colours.
Another factor which contribute to this issue is the
education blueprint that emphasizes on examinations.
It is known as the exam-oriented system and it has
been in place for a long time. Academic achievement of
the students are ranked in numbers and scores within a
class. The main concern is more on the outcome rather
than the learning process.The system has also forced
teachers to struggle in completing syllabi of a subject
before the exams at the expense of students
understanding of the content of the subjects.Thus,the
role ofplayed by the teachers in guiding the students to
expand their horizon of reading is neglected.The
emphasis, therefore, has shifted from understanding
the lessons taught to mere rote learning or
memorisation.Although memorisation is still important
in learning since it serves as raw materials for the
process of thinking and understanding, the overemphasis of this aspect especially in serving
examination purposes will definitely not help in
developing a better student.As a matter of fact it will

undermine motivation, interest and persistence in

learning.

Initially, examination was created to monitor and to

check a students performance in studies. However,
students are burning the midnight oil to study for an
exam. This results in some students becoming ill due to
stress and lack of sleep. As s matter of fact, many
student in Malysia are having panda eyes. Due to this
country's narrow minded approach to education
students have also become more and more stressful.
This contributes to psychological disease which is
known as neurosis or depression. Those students who
does last-minute studying will have to put aside their
social lives, have to sacrifice their sleep and will be
under great pressure and tension. Coursework is also a
problem when you have exams and it should not collide
with exam revision. .Even worse,this is a constriction to
the ideal of learning. It is a well-known fact that when it
comes to exams, students compete, not only with
themselves, but with other students. They no longer
want to see an increase in their knowledge, but only
want to grab the top spot in the class.This definitely has
beaten the purpose of learning.

Emphasizing too much on examinations have caused

teachers to prepare students for exams and not for
their future. As such, many of our students are illprepared to face the challenges of the real world. Living
in a world which is changing rapidly, we need to
prepare our students to face many challenges in life as
they will form the backbone of our nation in the years

to come. This also goes against the grain of our

National Philosophy of Education where the emphasis is
on character building and the development of human
capital. Apart from aiming at developing the cognitive
dimension of the students, it is also important in
inculcating values and strengthening the spiritual and
psychological dimensions of the students.The purpose
behind is to produce an ethical nation which is in line
with the principles of "Rukun Negara" that are believing
in God , maintaining good behaviour and morality.
Putting too much of focus on exams have encroached
the students free time.Children as young as four are
losing out on play because schools are coaching them
to perform well in examinations only.Teachers are
increasingly "teaching to the test", which means that
students are not getting the broad and balanced
curriculum they should be entitled to.It has led to
students becoming bored which destroys their passion
towards knowledge.Once passion towards knowledge is
destroyed, it will not produce wisdom, for wisdom is
gained with passion and love for knowledge.Moreover,
wisdom is acquired through the sense of wonder as well
as the strong urge to know things, as sagaciously
intoned by the famous Greek thinker, Socrates,
wisdom begins with wonder..Consequently,student
will lose their interest in studies and will not be able to
perform well in their examinations.In short,the
productivity of the student will decrease.