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Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek said that the ministry (MOE) intends to rebrand the Form 6 system to pre-university colleges.
She said this at the awards ceremony for the 2022 STPM, the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) and the Malay Language Proficiency Certification for Non-Malaysians (SKBMW), yesterday.
The MOE is committed to making sure that students who want to continue their education will have the option of taking the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) examination, she said, adding that the move will give it a fresh image.
With the rebranding of the Form 6 education system, there will also be term changes; from pupils to students, teachers to lecturers, principals to directors and senior assistant teachers to deputy directors. However, she also mentioned that although the titles would change, the pay grade would still stay the same.
Moreover, the MOE has also given the principals of Form 6 schools autonomous power, effective immediately, to relax the requirements for admission of students, and the principals are now permitted to offer spots to qualified candidates and those who want to continue their studies, if there are still openings.
"It is part of the MOE's efforts to reduce dropouts because previously the admission process for Form 6 students was via the offer from MOE. The ministry might overlook students who are eligible to continue their studies at the STPM level," she said.
She also added that by giving administrators the freedom to select qualified students, it will be an effective and efficient way to provide kids the chance to continue their education.
Furthermore, the ministry is working to increase the number of excellent Form 6 teachers, which currently only makes up about 0.5%, or 60 teachers, of the total number of teachers instructing sixth formers. The ministry will also review the tools and rubrics used to evaluate these teachers to raise their calibre and professionalism.
On another development, Fadhlina stated that the MOE has determined that 10,000 candidates – including those who did not take the test in previous years – have applied to retake the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam. She added that the remaining 20,000 people are still being identified.
STPM
STPM, or the Malaysian Higher School Certificate in English, is a pre-university course that is taken after the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examination. It is among the alternatives before pursuing a university degree.
The Malaysian Examination Council, which oversees STPM, implemented a new modular STPM structure in 2012. To maintain the level and quality of this curriculum, under the new modular approach, a representative from the Cambridge Assessment from the UK will monitor and approve students results.
Earlier this year, Fadhlina mentioned that the Cambridge Assessment International Education recognises the STPM standard. STPM certificate holders can continue their education anywhere in the nation and abroad, including in the United States, the Commonwealth countries, as well as the Middle East, because all public universities in the country and more than 2,000 universities worldwide recognise this academic qualification.
Students who opt for STPM are enrolled in Form 6 for about 18 months. The new STPM curriculum has been divided into three terms, each of which will be taught separately during each of the three periods. Each term will include exams, and each terms results will be made public at the conclusion of that term.
With this new structure, the students will be evaluated based on school based assessment which carries the weightage of 20 to 40 percent of the final score and centralised examination which carries the weightage of 60 to 80 percent of the final score.
