If parents of students in Form Three are concerned over the abolishment of the Form Three Assessment (FTA) in June last year, the findings of a leading university in Malaysia should give them assurance that everything is on course.

According to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Center for the Study of Educational Diversity, Faculty of Education, the FTA replacement which is called Classroom Assessment (CA) is good enough.

The findings of the faculty show that there is no reason for FTA to be conducted in comparison with the previously run Lower Certificate of Education and Lower Secondary Assessment as the current CA is effective.

But the faculty’s panel of assessors stated that there may be drawbacks as the abolishment of FTA will impact the motivation of students as there are no exams and so provides them with less reasons to study.

Other factors include students not having a guideline in determining their capabilities and teachers will be impacted as they now have to deal with students who are not motivated or focused and who are unsure of their next course of study.

But the faculty assessors explained that the CA and annual exams at the school level would help students focus on their studies and the education ministry is emulating other countries by having only one centralised secondary school examination.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE