He said the costs borne by the state for these examinations will be an investment for the children’s future, The Borneo Post reported.
“In Sarawak, it will be different (from other states). Even though we have to pay for it due to the collaboration with Cambridge, we need to do it to secure a better future for our children who are going to be experts and skilled in the new economy,” he said at an event yesterday.
He said such tests are important to develop human resources to fill the needs of the state’s new economic and industrial initiatives. The examination is to be administered by Cambridge University’s international exam board.
Abang Johari added that students identified through these assessments to be weak in the subjects would be assisted through special classes.
As Sarawak develops its growing hydrogen sector, it is important for its younger generation to have a good command of mathematics, science and English under the state’s dual language programme (DLP), Abang Johari said.
It was previously reported that all Year 6 and Form 3 students under the DLP in Sarawak will sit for the state public examination in 2025 and 2028 respectively.
The UPSR (for Year 6) and PT3 (for Form 3) exams were abolished in 2021 and 2022 respectively and replaced with classroom and school-based assessments by the education ministry.
Last year, Sarawak’s education, innovation and talent development minister Roland Sagah Wee Inn said the state planned to devise its own assessment system for students to replace the UPSR.
Education minister Fadhlina Sidek had said Sarawak’s proposal to formulate its own assessment system to replace the UPSR in government schools in the state did not contravene the national education policy.
Last month, several vernacular schools and private schools in Sarawak had expressed interest in also holding the state’s standard assessment examination for their Year 6 and Form 3 students.
Dr Annuar Rapaee, Sarawak’s deputy minister for education, innovation and talent development, said the state’s education ministry was open to holding talks with the schools on implementing these examinations.