As time goes by, Malaysias education system undergoes big changes.

In 1983,
Kurikulum Baru Sekolah Rendah (KBSR) was introduced and made some changes to the
education system. Ten years later, its name was changed to Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah
Rendah (KBSR). KBSR give more focus on integrating all the skills especially in English
Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms where the language skills are emphasized at a very
basic level. I myself experienced the curriculum where it only works on language across
curriculum objective. For example, under aspect of English, KBSR only give attention on
how to prepare the students with basic language skills that can be apply in daily
communication. Now, a new curriculum was introduced a year ago, 2011 to replace KBSR:
Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR). KSSR was introduced to reorganize and
upgrade the current curriculum. Changes can be clearly seen in the aspect of key areas,
curriculum documentation, curriculum design, curriculum organization, curriculum content,
elements and focus. In this review, I would like to elaborate more on aspect of assessment for
both KBSR and KSSR.
There is a huge difference under testing in KBSR and also in KSSR. In KBSR, it is
very much exam-oriented approach where the students are assessed formatively according to
their academic performance in examinations. When I was in primary school, I remembered
that I have gone through a lot of exercises and practices whether in workbook or handouts
given by the teacher. All this only work as extra input in the learning process. The most
important thing during this period was the examination. Especially when comes to final exam
that been conducted at the end of the course. Before my friends and I seat for our final, we
have gone through several examinations that occur in the middle of the year. In order to get a
good result, backwash approach has been introduced. At first I have no idea what approach
has been used by my teacher. However, now I can relate what I have gone through before this
is actually suite with this kind of approach. Teacher had drilling us with many set of
questions. The aim for this testing is to assess the student performance to classify their level.
The result from the test will help the teacher to place the student according to their level. For
example if student A able to get a good result, he or she will enter the first class in the future.

While in KSSR, it is a combination of both formative and summative assessment. Here,

teacher play an important role where the teacher will assess more on development of skills
and it is done individually. This is a great feature of KSSR, because no more ends of year
exams as the main evaluation period like been applied in KBSR. Evaluation under this
curriculum is now to help rather than to compete for the top spot. Students are evaluated on an
ongoing process where they are required to achieve certain standard before proceed to the
next phase. This is the best method in order to identify the weakness of the students as soon as
possible so that remedial actions are quickly taken. It is good to spot the weakness early
because it can help to prevent more conflict in future. If the students unable to achieve the
standard given, they will be taught and reevaluated again. Based on my visit to the school
during School Based Experience (SBE), I noticed that most of the handouts and exercises that
be done by the student will be put in the file. Each students will have their own file and inside
it they can see how their performance. Parents are able to see the progression of their children
in the learning. This file keeps all the evidences on what the students has learn in the class and
be place at the back of the class. I believe with KSSR being implemented students will have
more chances to succeed as they can develop many skills.

I believe that KSSR is more practical and beneficial in our education system. According to an
article on Tuesday, September 27th 2011, Putrajaya, KSSR receives positive feedback from
parents as well as teachers which catch and increased the interest of learning English among
students. The article mentioned that KSSR approach focus on a fun way of learning in which I
fully agree with. One of the statement mentioned by Education Deputy Director-General
(Policy), Prof Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof that shows why KSSR is the best approach "KSSR
not only emphasizes on language proficiency, but also communication among the students. It
also uses other methods such as games and music."

Dalam system KBSR yang dialami oleh saya sewaktu sekolah rendah dahulu banyak
memfokuskan kepada pembelajaran teori semata-mata. Semua pembelajaran dalam kelas
difokuskan untuk menghadapi ujian peperiksaan sahaja. Tidak ada pembelajaran yang
menunjukkan kepentingan dalam menguasai bidang kemahiran dimana pembelajaran
kemahiran sedang diajar dikalangan murid sekolah sekarang dibawah system KSSR. Guruguru sekolah pada zaman sekarang telah dilatih untuk menguasai pelbagai ilmu termasuk
ilmu kemahiran dan teknikal. Sewaktu system KBSR digunakan dalam pendidikan sekolah,
murid-murid hanya didedahkan dengan pengetahuan yang bukan kemahiran. Namun,
sekarang murid-murid didedahkan dengan pelbagai kemahiran termasuk juga kemahiran
menggunkan teknologi. Kemahiran-kemahiran yang diajarkan kepada murid sekarang amat
diperlukan untuk menuju Negara maju.

Pada pendapat saya, setelah diteliti kedua-dua system pendidikan KBSR dan KSSR, banyak
input terbaru yang saya perolehi tentang system pendidikan ini. Setiap system mempunyai
kelebihan dan kekurangan tersendiri. Namun, system terbaru yang digunakan iaitu KSSR
lebih banyak memberi kebaikan kepada masa depan murid dan juga Negara.

Kesimpulannya, Sistem pendidikan yang lebih baik perlu digunakan untuk meningkatkan
mutu pendidikan Negara kita. Saya sebagai bakal guru yang akan menjadi pendidik
mengharapkan system pendidikan Negara sentiasa di baik pulih agar tidak membebankan
guru dan murid dalam masa yang sama dapat meningkatkan tahap pendidikan murid-murid.