KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told Parliament this morning that the Education Ministry will scrap the proposed “diagnostic test” for six-year-olds to enrol into Year One.
The announcement came amid growing concerns that the test would be discriminatory and hinder access to education for children who may not pass the test.
Anwar said he agreed with the view, but defended the initial rationale behind the proposed examination.
“The education minister had proposed that the diagnostic test be scrapped, but I’d like to stress here that the initial proposal was good because there is an assessment system to see if the child is ready to start school,” he said in a reply to Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
“But then we thought this may be discriminative, meaning it may cause psychological impact to a child because he is perceived to be less intelligent if he cannot enrol, hence the test is scrapped.
“So I agreed with the proposal (to remove it),” Anwar added.
