Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Centre of Education and Community Wellness lecturer, Annuar Ahmad, said several countries, including the United Kingdom, have dropped the number of subjects taken by students during this pandemic and given priority to core subjects.

“This doesn’t mean that other subjects are not important but for now we have to set priorities. For example, as core subjects, we cannot drop Bahasa Melayu and English as they may take some time for students to master,” he said.

He said this when appearing as a guest on Bernama TV’s Ruang Bicara programme which discussed the topic “PdPR 2.0 – Solusi di Luar Kotak” last night.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s Centre for Foundation and Continuing Education senior lecturer Abdul Mutalib Embong, meanwhile, said the syllabus for off-site teaching and learning method used in rural primary schools should be improved, depending on students’ ability levels to ensure that no one is left behind.

He said this was because, through the method, teachers would only provide a module lesson to students without proper guidance.

Mutalib said the move was important because many Year Two and Year Three pupils, especially those in rural areas, were still unable to master the basic 3M education, namely reading, writing and maths.

He also suggested that non-core subject teachers help the core subject teachers in conducting PdPR.