KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The Education Ministry currently has no plans to reintroduce an examinations-based system in schools, after having previously scrapped the primary school examination UPSR and Form 3 Assessment (PT3) to move to a system less focused on tests.

In a written parliamentary reply yesterday, the ministry said it was always carrying out improvements to the system to assess and evaluate students according to current needs and said it has been focusing on enhancing School Based Assessment (PBS).

"For Yang Berhormat’s information, students’ success should be looked at holistically and not just based on performance in the academic field only,” the ministry said, describing PBS as a progressive process which focuses on holistic development of students and not just on any single aspect.

The ministry said this was because PBS involves components such as classroom assessment (PBD), physical activity, sports, and co-curriculum assessment (PAJSK) and psychometric assessment (PPsi).

It said PBS enables students to develop in all aspects such as academically, in sports, co-curriculum, in values, interest and tendencies and character building.

"MoE is confident that PBS is the best approach to shift from examination-oriented learning to learning that is more fun for students and can develop the potential of students comprehensively. Therefore, MoE does not plan to bring back the examination system at this time.

"Any decision to reimplement examinations is subject to the results of the report on the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 which will end in 2025,” it said in the written response.

The ministry was responding to Pasir Salak MP Jamaludin Yahya who had asked if an examination-based system would be reinstated to create competition among students to master knowledge better.