PETALING JAYA: The National Union of the Teaching Profession Peninsular Malaysia (NUTP) has renewed calls for UPSR to be abolished as part of an effort to move away from an exam-oriented education system.



Its secretary-general Harry Tan Huat Hock said abolishing the primary school level assessment test could ease the burden put on pupils.



“It may also help society to move away from the notion that a pupil’s intelligence is measured by the number of As they score,” he said.



Tan said that NUTP was one of the early supporters of abolishing UPSR when former Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid proposed the move in 2016.



However, he said there have been no updates since then.



In a statement, Tan said that while UPSR should be abolished, it did not mean pupils would not be evaluated on their eligibility to attend fully residential schools.



“Pupils may be evaluated using assessment tests at their respective schools but not a nationwide examination,” he said.



Tan said the NUTP was prepared to work with the Education Ministry to abolish UPSR while searching for better solutions to improve assessment tests in schools.

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