Std 6 Assessment Exam (UPSR) Passing Mark for English, Mathematics and Science lowered to only 20 %

Read below or here full article on Tumpang Sekole Blog

According to information received by Blogger "Tumpang Sekole", the passing mark for the three subjects, English, Science and Mathematics was pegged at 20 % (twenty percent) for the Primary School Evaluation Test, generally called UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah), a national examination taken by Standard 6 pupils.

If this is true, it is scandalous!

A PASSING MARK of 20 % for the important subjects of Science and Mathematics creates a false sense of success and achievement. It means to a layman,that a pupil's success is judged when he/she is required to answer correctly ONLY TWO out of TEN questions.

How are we as a nation, if we are still aiming to be a member of the FIRST WORLD community by 2020, going to compete, let alone with the rest of the world, with our southern neighbour, Singapore in this technologically-savvy age?

We ask, what in the world is our Education Minister, that infamous keris-wielding Minister, thinking in allowing his bureaucrats in his Ministry to fool around with the education of our young?

In a NST article (15 Nov 2008), Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was reported as saying the UPSR results proved that the government policy of using English to teach Mathematics and Science was not a flop.

Hishammuddin added that the ministry's initial analysis of this year's UPSR results revealed that the achievement of all candidates was BETTER compared with the national average of the past five years' results.

(Photo courtesy of Tumpang Sekole Blog)

This year's UPSR pupils formed the pioneer batch which was taught Mathematics and Science in English right from Year One in 2003.

The Ministry of Education introduced in 2002 the PPSMI (Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran Sains Dan Matematik) policy in which Science and Mathematics will be taught in English. Full implementation of PPSMI for Primary Schools was targeted in 2008 and for Secondary Schools 2007.

Analysis of the 2008 UPSR results showed:

• A 4.4 per cent INCREASE in the number of pupils who scored As in ENGLISH.
  
  
• a 4.8 per cent INCREASE of pupilswho scored A, B or C in the English language.
  
  
• 46.6 per cent of pupils chose to answer the Mathematics paper in English
  
  
• 31.1 per cent of pupilswere confident enough to tackle the Science paper in English.
  
  
• Performance in the Science subject ONLY dipped by 0.7 per cent compared with the average over the last five years.
  
  
• An INCREASE in the number of pupils scoring As in all subjects.
  
  
• Of the 518,616 pupils, 46,641 passed with flying colours.

If the passing mark is pulled down to as low as 20%, then all these statistics hatched out by the Government are of little value in the real world.

It is no wonder that our education system, from the primary school to the university, had been badly compromised for some obnoxious reasons, if not political.

It is to the detriment to the future of our children, who we put into our national schools to be educated properly, to then allow our bureacrats to manipulate their academic performance, simply in order to fulfill some political reasons.

Worst of all, it further damages the reputation of the country and the integrity of our school children and university graduates.
-Malaysian Unplug

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From Tumpang Sekole Blog

Excerpts: Read here for more

Markah lulus UPSR untuk 3 subjek - Bahasa Inggeris, Matematik dan Sains hanyalah 20% sahaja??......

"……….keputusan UPSR, cerita nasib Bahasa Melayu dalam situasi pengajaran dan pembelajaran sistem pendidikan negara, nasib mata pelajaran Kesusasteraan Melayu dan Sejarah masih belum selesai meski kita telah menikmati usia kemerdekaan 51 tahun. Hati bertambah rawan mengenang nasib bahasa yang makin terpinggir di negara sendiri dan isu PPSMI yang tak sudah-sudah.

Bagi meneruskan kelangsungan PPSMI, dengar cerita markah lulus UPSR untuk 3 subjek iaitu Bahasa Inggeris, Matematik dan Sains hanyalah 20% sahaja. Apalah akan jadi kepada nasib anak-anak bangsaku ini. Angkara siapakah ini, bangsaku dan bahasaku hampir hancur lebur dan jadi cacamerba. Ke mana lap top dan wang rakyat berbilion ringgit semata-mata untuk PPSMI? Guru-guru masih mengajar menggunakan bahasa Melayu sedangkan mereka dibayar elaun untuk itu."

Demikianlah keluh seorang rakan saya yang diluahkan melalui email saya terima baru-baru ini.

Saya tidak mahu persalahkan beliau kerana rasa frustnya terhadap soal bahasa, keputusan UPSR terutama bagi subjek-subjek Bahasa Inggeris(BI),Matematik dan Sains.

Walaupun telah diwar-warkan oleh Pak Menteri kita dengan sang kutu-kutunya di Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia bahawa keputusan UPSR bagi 3 subjek-subjek tersebut telah meningkat dan menunjukkan prestasi pencapaian yang baik, namun dari segi realitinya adalah sebaliknya.

Baru-baru ini saya sempat bertemu beberapa orang guru dari beberapa buah SK dan SRJK di luar bandar yang datang bercuti di sini. Bila saya bertanya khabar tentang UPSR dan status PPSMI mereka menggeleng kepala masing-masing. Mereka memaklumkan bahawa keputusan UPSR, terutamanya bagi subjek Matematik,Sains dan BI adalah indah khabar dari rupa.

Sungguhpun bilangan yang lulus dalam subjek ini meningkat tetapi jika diteliti dari segi kualitinya ia tidaklah memberangsangkan.

Ada di antara mereka rasa hairan kenapa tiba-tiba bilangan murid-murid yang mendapat pangkat A dalam Matematik, Sains dan BI tiba-tiba berkurangan, sedangkan secara purata bilangan yang lulus dalam subjek-subjek tersebut MENINGKAT secara mendadak?

Yang lebih menghairankan ialah murid-murid yang mereka tahu sememangnya TIDAK boleh lulus dalam ketiga-tiga subjek itu tiba-tiba secara mistri (mystery) telah lulus dengan memperolehi pangkat C dan ada setengah mendapat pangkat B.

Mungkinkah markah untuk subjek-subjek ini telah dimanipulasikan, sehinggakan markah untuk lulus subjek tersebut diturunkan sehingga 20% seperti mana yang dinyatakan oleh rakan saya di atas ?

Perkara seperti ini tidaklah menghairankan, masakan rekod imigresen Altantuya Shaaribuu boleh dengan tiba-tiba boleh hilang dan terpadam daripada data bank Jabatan Imigresen, inikan pula keputusan peperiksaan UPSR yang dengan mudah boleh dimanipulasikan tanpa pengetahuan sesiapa pun........

Apa kata Pak Menteri Hishamuddin? Bolehkah dia menjawab mistri (mystery) ini.......