KUALA LUMPUR: THE Education Ministry will hold briefing sessions on the school-based assessment (SBA) for parents nationwide from next month.
Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the sessions would cover the implementation methods and students’ performance under the SBA system.
“It is important for parents to know and fully understand the SBA. If parents have a good understanding on the system, it will enable a smoother execution of the system,” he said yesterday.
Acknowledging the importance of parents’ role in their children’s education, he said the ministry had laid measures to reach out to parents for them to effectively understand the new system.
“Among the approaches we will undertake are through a series of Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) meetings in every state across the nation.
“The ministry will also use the media to disseminate information on the system,” he said, adding that the cyberspace would be used to reach Internet-savvy parents.
SBA, introduced in 2011, was part of the government’s efforts to produce well-rounded students.
The programme received mixed feedback following its implementation in 2011, starting with Year One pupils. In 2012, it covered all Form One students.
Last February, Suara Guru Masyarakat Malaysia (SGMM) had staged a protest against SBA and called for an end to the system, fearing that weaknesses in its implementation and the overall confusion by a majority of teachers and school administrators on how to implement SBA would affect the students.
In response to that, Idris said the Education Ministry had been engaging and conducting briefings to more than 12,500 teachers, who would be directly involved in the implementation of the system since early this month.
“It has been only two years since the implementation of the programme and I’m sure, in a couple of years, the measure will start bearing the fruits of success.
“Some countries which had implemented the SBA system took almost 10 years to bear success,” he said.
Under the programme, teachers will grade schoolchildren daily based on a six-band spectrum, starting from band one “understand” (the lowest) to band six “exemplary” (the highest).
“The SBA is a comprehensive assessment which does not only take into account exam results but also the student’s emotional, physical, spiritual, intellectual and social development,” he said after launching Taylor’s International School, formerly known as the Sri Garden International School, in Taman Maluri, near here.
-NST
