Starting this year, it appears that all primary 6 students from Chinese primary schools (SJKC) and Tamil primary schools (SJKT) will have to achieve a Mastery Level of TP4 to TP6 for their Bahasa Melayu (BM) language subject if they wish to proceed to Form 1.
According to a report by Sin Chew, the Ministry of Education (MoE) released an official notice to state education departments informing them of this new system.
Students with a Mastery Level of TP1 to TP3 will need to then pass the Bahasa Melayu Assessment Literacy Test (UPLBM) to move forward to Form 1, while students who fail the UPLBM will be denied entry to Form 1 and will be placed in ‘Kelas Peralihan’ or ‘Remove/Preparatory Class’.
With the new school term starting 21 March, SJKC and SJKT schools will need to conduct UPLBM tests with students who are under the TP1 to TP3 categories.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon shared that this policy will be different from what was implemented during the UPSR era.
“At that time, schools would evaluate students based on their Bahasa Malaysia grades from Primary 4, 5 and 6, and if they were deemed competent enough, they would be recommended to go to Secondary 1, but such cases were rare,” he said.
He went on to share that the UPLBM test is to give students with low grades in BM a chance to pass the test and move forward, while the ‘Remove/Preparatory Class’ is to help students who failed the test to hone their BM language skills.
“We hope that after entering the preparatory class, some children will be able to use a year to master basic Malay language skills so as to connect to the secondary school curriculum.”
What do you think of this policy? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
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