PUTRAJAYA: No 'most straight A' scorers, no 'best schools'.
For the first time since 1987, there was no special emphasis given to the academic achievements of students in the annual announcement of the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results.
Instead, Education director-general Datuk Dr Amin Senin today announced students' achievements as a whole via the Primary School Assessment Report (PSSR).
Not only were there no mentions of best schools or states with the most straight 'A' scorers, there were also no statistics of rural-urban school comparisons, nor school-to-school match ups.
Amin said from this year onwards, the annual announcement will comprise not only the UPSR exam results, but also feature three other components.
These components are sports, physical and co-curricular activities assessment; classroom assessment and psychometric assessment.
As for the UPSR examination, emphasis was only given on the minimum standard achievement. Students, he said, are required to obtain at least a 'D' in all subjects.
"There was an increase of 1.6 per cent this year compared to last year, where 293,514 (68.1 per cent) candidates achieved the minimum standard compared to 293,184 candidates in 2016," he told a press conference today.
The percentage of students who have yet to achieve minimum standard in at least one subject reduced by 0.9 per cent with 130,027 (30.2 per cent) students this year as opposed to 137,262 (31.1 per cent) students in 2016, he said.
Amin said the percentage of students who did not achieve the minimum standard in any of the subjects also saw a fall of 0.7 per cent with 1.5 per cent (6,663 students) this year compared to 2.2 per cent (9,519 students) last year.
At national level, Amin said a total of 8,958 students scored straight A's this year compared to 4,896 last year. This is an increase of 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, for the physical activities, sports and co-curricular assessment (PAJSK), he said 24,612 (5.6 per cent) students were classified as 'very active and committed' in co-curricular involvement and exemplied individual potential in the activities joined.
"A total of 302,018 (68.9 per cent) candidates were classified as having active and committed co-curricular involvement and exemplified satisfactory interest in activities joined, while 100,331 (22.9 per cent) candidates achieved satisfactory co-curricular involvement," he added.
As for the national Physical Fitness Standard (SEGAK), Amin said 40,957 (9.5 per cent) candidates recorded 'very high' fitness levels and 168,101 (38.8 per cent) candidates recorded high fitness levels.
"On the other hand, 189,929 (43.9 per cent) candidates recorded fit fitness levels and 3,644 (0.8 per cent) candidates recorded unfit fitness levels," he said.
Meanwhile, in the body mass index (BMI) assessment, a total of 268,314 (63.4 per cent) students recorded normal BMI; 56,584 (13.4) students are at risk of being obese; 58,294 (13.8 per cent) students are obese; and 40,347 (9.5 per cent) students underweight.
For the psychometric assessment, candidates were tested on multiple intelligence inventory.
"A total of 77.7 per cent of candidates showed existential tendency, 77.3 per cent showed intrapersonal tendency while 68.9 per cent showed interpersonal tendency.
"Another 63.2 per cent were deemed naturalistic, 54.4 per cent kinesthetic, 50.3 per cent showed tendency towards mathematical logic and 43.4 per cent towards visual space," he said.
Amin said 373 candidates achieved exemplary competence and 171 candidates achieved exemplary competence in the Primary School Alternative Assessment, which is in place of the UPSR for 3,095 special needs students.
In the fourth and final assessment, which is the classroom assessment, he said students' achievements will be evaluated and handled by their respective school.
Amin said that in summary, the students' PSSR performance w
as good and will pave the way for even greater improvements in the future.
He noted that it would not be fair to evaluate students based on their academic achievements alone and that consideration must be given to their total development including physical, emotional and spiritual aspects.
"Each student is unique in their own way and it is only fair that the evaluation takes note of all their best aspects.
"Everyone should bear in mind that the UPSR is only a checkpoint to measure a student's ability to read, write, count and their reasoning skills during six years of primary education. Priority should be given to students' development as a whole."
Reporting by HASHINI KAVISHTRI KANNAN, FAIRUZ MOHD SHAHAR AND AINA NASA