Articles

PT3 on track for excellence

Published by SchoolAdvisor | Jul 02, 2014

Educationists have come to praise the new Form Three Assessment (PT3) which kicked off with the first wave of exams yesterday, 1^st July 2014.

Dr Mohammad Akbal Abdullah of UTHM’s Faculty of Science said that students under PT3 would be trained to develop soft skills such as communication skills which are vital in today's world. With soft skills being given a higher priority in this exam assessment, teachers would be able to hone and cultivated by the teachers in a consistent manner.

He also went on to highlight that teacher’s would be more focused on the character building of students under PT3 which would help to produce students who would not solely base success on paper only.

Former Ministry of Education Director-General, Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom commented that parents would also benefit from PT3 as the progress of students will be compiled into four reports that include psychometric and sports assessment.

“This way, teachers and parents will be able to tell if a student has an inclination towards science or research, while the sports assessment will take into account extra-curricular activities,” he said. Tan Sri Alimuddin went on to say that the skills presented by the students would prove to be valuable to them in the future.

Taylor’s University Vice-President Prof Dr Selvaraj Oyyan Pillay lauded the new system and said it would put Malaysia on par with some of the best education systems in the world.

“This system has been implemented at most developed countries and this is definitely a good system for Malaysia to go forward,” he said.

Dr. Selvaraj pointed out that PT3 would enhance the dynamics between all interested parties as it will bring the students’ talents to the attention of teachers instead of an examiner who does not know the student at all.

“Teachers who know their students well would be able to assess them, instead of having an examiner who doesn’t know them at all and how they are performing at school.

Lead Training Center’s faculty mentor, Prof Dr Hoo Ke Ping pointed out that PT3 could help to alleviate the school drop-out rates by sustaining the student’s interest during class.

The Ministry of Education has set deadlines for schools to hold the final PT3 assessments on multiple sets of subjects. Currently, schools have until the 18^th of July to hold the assessments for History and geography which are conducted via case studies.