Leaving behind exam-oriented system

By DR MOHD FARID MOHD SHAHRAN

 IKIM VIEWS

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Tuesday, 29 Oct 2013

 12:00 AM M

EDUCATION 11h ago

Education is not just about knowledge

Under the new education blueprint the approach will focus more on comprehensive
assessment based on the banding system, where all students will be tutored to achieve
the highest band which is Band 6.

AMONG the aims of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 launched by the
Deputy Prime Minister recently is to end the exam-oriented system that has been in
place for a long time.

The revised approach will focus more on the comprehensive assessment which will be
based on the banding system ranging from Band 1 to Band 6. According to this system,
all students will be tutored properly by the teachers to achieve the highest band which is
Band 6.

Naturally, for those who are used to the old exam-oriented system, the new approach
does not offer them satisfaction and certainty. There are still questions raised on how
the new assessment method will really evaluate the academic performance of the
students.

As academic achievement of the students will no longer be ranked in numbers and

scores within a class, parents in particular are still in the dark on the real performance of
their children. Living in a competitive age where everything is assessed through
performance ranking, tangible assessment is, no doubt, of utmost concern to many.

Generally speaking, the exam-oriented education system is seen as having some

drawbacks despite its benefits.

Such a system has produced students who will only focus on their studies at the last
moment of the academic term and concentrate more on passing exams rather than
understanding the subject.

The main concern is more on the outcome rather than the learning process.
The system has also forced teachers to struggle in completing syllabi before the exams at
the expense of students’ understanding of the content of the subjects.

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 over-emphasis 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.

Such a mentality has also infected parents who will rush their children to tuition centres
particularly whenever the exam period is around the corner.

Another discrepancy of the exam-oriented system is that it destroys the pupils’ passion
for knowledge since they are forced to learn something that hardly leaves space for their
own creativity and innovation.

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”.

With the new blueprint, the approach focuses more on student-centred learning where
they are given ample opportunities to think, discuss, analyse and come up with their own
conclusions through field work, discussions and IT-based presentations with the proper
guidance by the teacher.

Of utmost importance in an education system is that students enjoy what they learn.
This can be achieved either by creatively developing a more significant curriculum, or by
making the process of learning more interesting to the student.

The latter can be done through giving more room for students to be part of the decision
or conclusion-making in academic discussions. Evidently, such a practice is being
incorporated in the new blueprint.

This process can be facilitated further by giving ample opportunities to students to go

beyond the curriculum during the learning process.
Since the mode of evaluation and assessment is no more bound to examination and
mere memorisation, more room is given to the teachers to allow students creative
reading and incorporating additional ideas in the process of learning.

This is not something difficult to achieve in this cyber era where access to information by
students is very easy.

The role of teachers, in this matter, is very instrumental in guiding the students to
expand their horizon of reading.

Publishers and bookshops must also play their part in complementing the educational
system by providing good books relevant to the academic contents.

The process of liberalising the education system and giving more room for creativity and
independent thinking must nevertheless be properly balanced with the guidance in
terms of values that need to be inculcated to students.

This is because education, apart from aiming at developing the cognitive dimension of
the students, is also important in inculcating values and strengthening the spiritual and
psychological dimensions of the students.

In other words, the purpose of education is ultimately to produce an ethical man which is
in line with the principles of Rukun Negara, believing in God and good behaviour and
morality.

This concern is also made clear in the National Philosophy of Education which says that
“education in Malaysia is a continuous effort towards enhancing the potential of
individuals in a holistic and integrated manner in order to create individuals who are
well-equipped intellectually, spiritually and emotionally based on the belief in God”.

With the balance between the need to enhance students with creative, analytical skills
and the good ethical values it is hoped that the way forward for Malaysian education will
be a better one.

> Dr Mohd Farid Mohd Shahran is Senior Fellow at Ikim’s Centre of Economics and Social
Science. The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.

TAGS / KEYWORDS:Opinion , IKIM