SINCE the school holiday started, my 5-year-old son has been asking us almost on a daily basis why he is at his nanny’s place and not at school.
A few days ago, he had asked me to drive by his kindergarten so that he could see for himself that his school was not open. In short, he just misses school and his friends.
My immediate take on this is that the kindergarten has done its job in making my son love going to school.
The learning experiences he has had so far have shaped his perception about education — it is fun!
If similar fun can be felt by my son when he goes through formal education, I believe he will gain so much knowledge and positive experiences in school.
I was upbeat when Education director-general Datuk Dr Amin Senin said the Education Ministry wanted to bring back fun into the classrooms, especially in primary schools. He has my full support. It is time to bring back fun in learning.
We have been told by many that Norwegian public education has been ranked as one of the best in Europe.
Children in Norway’s “Barneskole” (primary school) spend their days playing educational games, learning social skills and basic education in the first grade.
Norway is one of the countries where children in primary schools do not receive official grades. But, their teachers will write comments and unofficial grades on tests to show progress.
It sounds familiar because Malaysia is embarking on the same path for its primary school education, to the horror of many Malaysian parents who are so used to getting official grades to gauge their children’s learning progress.
Starting this year, there is less opportunity to fuel parents’ bragging rights when it comes to their 12-year-olds’ Ujian Pencapian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results.
Instead of the usual announcement of straight As scorers and which states or schools excelled in UPSR, holistic assessment reports of the candidates’ learning progress were given under the Primary School Assessment Report, or Pelaporan Pentaksiran Sekolah Rendah.
The assessment showed candidates’ performance in non-academic components as well — sports, physical and curriculum assessments, classroom assessment and psychometric assessment.
In other words, the public gets a bird’s eye view of the Year Six pupils’ performance based on these four components rather than just the UPSR results.
For the academic assessment, the ministry only announced the percentage of UPSR candidates who secured minimum mastery in various academic subjects without going into detail on the breakdown of grades, as done previously.
The details of the UPSR results, however, were still listed in the result slips that students collected from their schools, together with three other reports.
In addition, there will be no more data on school average grades and subject average grades as they are found to place pressure on schools, teachers and students to excel solely in academics.
The decision to do away with such data is the Education Ministry’s way of relieving the pressure and bringing back fun in the learning process.
We have read enough news on how the pressure to excel in studies has led to a growing number of suicides.
It was reported that children in Hong Kong were raised to excel, not to be happy, and experts had deemed it worrying.
Experts have been saying for years that a high-pressure, exam-oriented education system has pushed young people to the breaking point and triggered a decline in their mental health.
In the United Kingdom, surveys showed that primary school children were attempting suicide because of exam pressures, too much homework and cyberbullying. It is worrying when experts say that suicidal thoughts among pupils are “out of control”. And, Japan is on suicide watch as children go back to schools.
Malaysia will not be spared from a similar fate if changes are not made to our education system. Instead of throwing a fit when the authorities are making changes, we parents should ask ourselves: How we can help?
Things are changing now for the better. One such change is reflected in the 2017 UPSR results, which came with the three other reports.
Parents will have better insight into their children’s development as an individual because each student is unique.
And, this uniqueness is what the Education Ministry wants to celebrate, rather than focusing only on those who excel academically. About time, too.
With more than 15 years in journalism and a master’s in Counselling Psychology, the writer is always drawn to the mystery of the human mind and behaviours