January 22, 2026
World
World
TOKYO, Jan 22 — Japan has halted the restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant just hours after it began, though the reactor remains “stable,” the operator said.
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Academics have welcomed the Education Ministry’s move to study the possible revival of the UPSR and PT3 examinations, saying it could help realign Malaysia’s education assessment system if implemented with improvements.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia senior lecturer Dr Yap Soon Li said any recommendation to reintroduce the exams should not be seen as a step backwards, but as a strategic reset. He noted that UPSR and PT3 previously served as national benchmarks, though their weakness lay in an overly exam-oriented culture.
He said if revived, the exams should balance system monitoring with formative assessment, focus on Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), and be integrated with school-based assessments to provide a more holistic view of student performance. He also stressed the importance of strengthening teachers’ assessment literacy and using technology ethically to identify learning gaps.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Minda deputy director Dr Anuar Ahmad said UPSR and PT3 are suitable tools to measure students’ actual achievement at primary and lower secondary levels, especially given challenges faced by school-based assessments such as large class sizes.
However, he cautioned against turning the exams into competitive platforms that could harm students’ mental well-being, stressing that their purpose should be early identification of learning needs rather than ranking students or schools.
On Friday, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the National Education Advisory Council (MPPK) has been activated to study the need to revive UPSR and PT3, which were abolished in 2021 and 2022 respectively. — Bernama
