Press Digest - 60% voted against scrapping UPSR in survey

PETALING JAYA: Sixty percent of people who responded in the first three days of a survey via Twitter by Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said "no" to the government's plan to scrap the UPSR (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah), Nanyang Siang Pau reported today.
Disclosing this yesterday, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon said, "(however), I don't have the latest figures".
"Following support shown by Jiao Zong (United Chinese School Teachers Association) and the National Union of Heads of Chinese Schools for plans to do away with UPSR, the Education Ministry has started to collect feedback at the grassroots level, especially from parents," Chong told reporters after officiating at the 18th World of Chinese Book Fair at Mines 2, Seri Kembangan yesterday.
Mahdzir had said earlier that a decision on whether to abolish UPSR would be made next year.
Chong said the "issue" at hand is the parents' and public's opinions.
If they do not support the move to scrap UPSR, the ministry cannot move ahead with educational reform, he said, expressing hope that parents would cooperate with the government on this matter.
"They (those who opposed) cited three reasons, i.e. scrapping UPSR would result in pupils slacking in their studies; parents not knowing the level of children's learning ability; and parents' worries that their children would not be promoted to top secondary schools (which is done based on UPSR results)," Chong said.
He said once UPSR is done away with, the ministry will gradually cut down on pupils' homework.
He said parents will have to change their mindsets as "giving more homework to pupils doesn't mean the teachers are more hardworking or this particular school is better (than others not giving so much homework)".