Abolishing UPSR and PMR

Currently in Malaysia, the big issue going on in the field of education is abolishing the UPSR and the PMR examination. I do not agree with the idea of abolishing UPSR and PMR. However, if the notion is to abolish the English language paper for UPSR and PMR, I will agree with it a 100%. First and foremost, if English and Malay are being tested only at SPM level, teachers could do wonders with their lesson plans. Daily classroom activities are no longer dedicated to drilling students with countless examination activities in order to prepare them for exams. The activities could be activities that allow students to interact with the language itself. Examples of such activities are role playing activities, playing RPG card games (Magic the Gathering for example), and theater play. Furthermore, without having to prepare for examination, the stress factor is absent and therefore providing a more conducive environment for learning language. Many would argue that without examinations, it is hard to gauge students’ performance. They would also say that many would not even be motivated to learn as the subject is not tested. First, one does not need examination to gauge a students’ proficiency in the language. The teacher could evaluate them using some other measurements besides giving examination. For example, checking and monitoring their language development and providing more assistance to students who aren’t too proficient. For the second argument, exams do not motivate students to study. It “forces” them to study. Exams could work for subjects such as math and history as for those subjects, one needs tons of rote learning and plenty of exercise practice to be good at it. However, there is no way one could improve their language proficiency by rote learning. Language improvement needs learners to be intrinsically motivated and taking part in meaningful/interactive learning in the target language. Two aspects that most students are lacking in this country. In the end, there will be more workload on teachers, but in my opinion it is more than worth it. However, could language examination truly be abolished? It is quite far fetched since the society in this country always measure a person’s worth by his or her grades. I do hope that one day people could actually realize that grades does not make an individual as current examination systems does not really give an accurate measurement of one’s knowledge.