Education minister Fadhlina Sidek said her ministry will probably bring the issue to the Cabinet to be discussed and decided, Bernama reported.

She said the ministry had earlier announced plans for a national education reform agenda, including strengthening the technical and vocational education and training programme (TVET), science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the use of both Malay and English, and expanding the preschool system.

“The existing education development plan ends in 2025 and a new curriculum will be implemented in 2027.

“So I think improvements and education reform is already underway,” she said after an official working visit to the Kota Kinabalu Integrity School here today.

Yesterday, Zahid said the UPSR and PT3 examinations, which had been scrapped, had served as benchmarks to gauge the education levels of students before they sat for the SPM examination and they chose their fields in furthering their studies.

“It’s a must that our education policy, which currently does not have major examinations for Year 6 and Form 3 students, be revamped,” he said.

Zahid said he had held discussions with the education and higher education ministries previously regarding the case of 10,177 students not sitting for their SPM last year due to problems in reading, writing and arithmetic (3Rs).

Fadhlina said the ministry was currently implementing an intervention programme after identifying that 122,000 Year 1 students have yet to master the 3Rs.

On the seven Integrity Schools and four Henry Gurney Schools in the country, Fadhlina said she was proud of their exam results.

“The students recorded 100% passes in SPM. Now, we must ensure they can pursue their higher education or undergo TVET.”