Achievements to date

IN the past two years, many programmes have been organised for students and teachers alike to brush up on their English proficiency.

As highlighted in On the right track (StarEducate, Aug 2), the nation is indeed heading in the right direction as the efforts under the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 have started to bear fruit.

Here, we pick out some of the most notable achievements in the education sector from the blueprint’s 2014 Annual Report.

■ The Education Ministry identified 1,191 “hotspot” schools – those with low passing rates for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) English Language paper – two years ago.

Out of this number, 140 scored the national average or more for English in SPM.

■ The Literacy and Numeracy test (LINUS) 2.0 programme, which 1.3 million pupils went through, indicated positive results.

English literacy rates among the first cohort (now in Year Two) increased from 63.3% to 78.3%.

Also, more Year One pupils (70.2%) showed basic English literacy.

■ The Professional Upskilling of English Language Teachers programme benefited 10,502 teachers.

It saw 2,244 teachers improving by one proficiency level, while another 166 improved by two proficiency levels.

■ To build confidence and language proficiency among English teachers, 360 native speakers from the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand were sent as mentors to 1,800 primary schools in remote areas.

■ The English Language assessment for the Form Three Assessment or PT3 expanded to include listening and speaking skills.

This was developed to benchmark students’ English proficiency levels with international standards.