From Jamaluddin Muhammad
SHANGHAI, Dec 3 (Bernama) — Malaysia likes to emulate elements practised in the Shanghai education system to churn out high-performing students, including for the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The deputy prime minister, who is also education minister, said Malaysia was keen to adopt some of the success formulae from Shanghai which gained the top spot in Pisa for its student high performances in Mathematics, Science and Reading.
“We want to learn how they succeed. We will look into (their) entire learning and teaching system,” he told reporters after attending a briefing by Pisa Chinese team director Zhang Minxuan at the Shanghai Normal University here Wednesday.
Towards this end, he said the ministry would send its expert team to the university to study the matter.
Their success formulae such as single session schooling, less homework and less tution should be given due consideration, he added.
While Shanghai is placed in the top spot, Malaysia is positioned among the lowest in the ranking which involves 65 participating countries (although Shanghai participated as a province) The province has 28 million population with 2,000 schools in rural and urban areas.
Pisa examines the performance of 15-year-old pupils in Mathematics, Science, Reading and problem solving.
Malaysian students scored below average for all the four subjects in the assessment conducted in 2012.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia would continue participating in the Pisa, adding that the country’s education plan would continue with some improvement.
— BERNAMA
