Press Digest - End of Remove Classes?

PETALING JAYA: The absence of Secondary School Standard Curriculum or KSSM (Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah) for Remove Class until now has prompted speculation that the Education Ministry is going to scrap the transition year next year.
In 2011, the ministry introduced the Primary School Standard Curriculum or KSSR (Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah) in stages, leading to the full implementation of the new curriculum in primary schools this year.
By next year, the new KSSM will be introduced in secondary schools in stages starting with Form One, replacing the Secondary School Integrated Curriculum or KBSM (Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Menengah).
Based on media reports, the ministry has been training teachers to prepare them for the Form One syllabus under KSSM but there is no news about any teachers being prepared for the new syllabus for Remove Class.
According to a report in China Press today, Council of SMJK Principals of Malaysia chairman Tan Teik Siang disclosed that Form One teachers have already been called up for KSSM briefings.
"The Education Ministry has started training courses (on KSSM syllabus) but so far only Form One teachers have been notified. None of those teaching Remove Classes are informed of it," he said.
He said KSSM is new and schools are awaiting the ministry's announcement on its details.
He is worried that the ministry is not training Remove Class teachers for KSSM because it intends to scrap the transition class.
Tan told the daily that the government had for a long time wanted to do away with the Remove Class, especially with the implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy Screening (Linus) programme, which showed that more than 90% of primary school pupils have achieved the adequate literacy and numeracy skills to not require to go to Remove Class.
He reiterated his stand against the scrapping of the Remove Class, which is aimed at helping pupils from vernacular schools who are weak in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) to acquire sufficient proficiency in the national language before moving on to Form One when most subjects are taught in BM.