Iqra'?

I found this interesting statement by the DPM/Education Minister [here] “This is a very important discovery that we need to pay attention to because in our own ministry’s records, even among students not part of the NS, there is a small number of those who have reached Form Five but still have literacy problems.”

I’m not sure if he was misquoted but I surely hope he was. Reading the statement makes me wonder someone with literacy problems can reach form five? By literacy problems I’m assuming difficulty or maybe even not knowing how to read. If one has difficulty reading, he/she will also have difficulty understanding and consequently will have major difficulty passing exams. Before one reaches form five, the student would have gone through two major national exams; UPSR and PMR. I’m assuming, a student with the abovementioned problem would end up getting 5Es and 8Fs for both exams and if they did, how come their school did not take the appropriate action to remedy the problem?

According to a report on Star Online (10 January 2012), the Defence Ministry discovered that about eight per cent of 6,667 National Service trainees from 30 selected camps nationwide were unable to read and write. 18 year olds who are unable to read and write! How did they read the letter requesting them to attend NS then? What about the trainees form other camps not included in the selected 30?

In this day and age, there is no excuse for a healthy person not being able to read or write. The system should have detected and rectified the problem much earlier and not after they have reached eighteen. Didn’t the parents’ notice their children’s inability to read? What was the purpose of the national exams if it allows illiterate students to proceed to upper secondary?

Maybe we should have oral (not the dental type) examinations for 9 year olds to ensure only those who can read and write proceed to upper primary.