KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh today urged the public not to judge him based on Malaysia’s below-average showing in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as he was not yet the second education minister at the time.
He guaranteed that Malaysia’s PISA ranking this year will improve, which will more adequately reflect his performance in the Education Ministry.
“They use PISA ranking from 2012, but the new exam results, PISA 2015, three years later, our students just took the PISA exam in April, that is my work. Not the 2012 one, I wasn’t even a minister yet then.
“I say this year’s PISA results will be better than 2012, I put myself on the line,” he said during a briefing titled ‘Soaring Upwards: Malaysia’s Education Transformation and Successes.’
He also asked the public to stop referencing the 2012 PISA rankings as it would be “ruining the country.”
“2015 is going to be better but people still everyday using OECD and PISA from 2012 which is not right. They’re not giving the right facts and figures.
“Cannot, these are the people that are ruining our country,” he said.
PISA is administered by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) every three years on 15-year-olds in both OECD and non-OECD countries, during which students are tested in their main language of instruction.
According to local daily The Star, PISA 2012, which were released December 2013, saw Malaysia score below the global average on all three sections namely mathematics, science and reading, thus garnering the 52nd spot out of 65 countries. — Reuters
