abolish the exam

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Decision on UPSR and PMR Abolishment in a Month or Two

KUALA LUMPUR, 1 JULY, 2010: The decision whether to abolish the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) will be made in a month or two after a series of discussions involving the interested parties. Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would ensure the decision be made this year whether the two examinations should be scrapped from next year or later. "We will decide on the matter soon. I have asked the director-general of Education to arrange for a series of roundtable discussions and the concerned parties will be invited to give their views although we had done a study on the matter some time ago. "The discussions are also for us to get detailed input and a clearer picture on the issue before coming to a decision," he said after opening the National Pre-School Education Conference 2010, here, today. Muhyiddin said the feedback received so far, particularly through the media, was encouraging and positive, and all the feedback would be taken into consideration in the roundtable discussions at the ministry.        "Even today when I looked at the newspapers, there are views on the matter not only from ordinary people but also from the education experts. Some of the views are rather sound," he added. Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the public could still offer their views but should not be to the extent of creating controversies. "I want people to think (about the proposed abolishment), but some quarters have misunderstood me; that I am creating a controversy, which is not true. "I just want to provoke the people to think, so that we can gather all the different views from the interested parties. It's a healthy debate." On the Permata Negara Programme which will be taken over by the education ministry from 2012, Muhyiddin said the ministry was making careful preparations.       "What is important is how to manage the programme, which requires special training because taking care of young children will be more difficult than what we're doing now.