Even if Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Islamisation, anti-Chinese, e-invoice, delayed tax refunds, SST tax regime, racism, and fake anti-corruption policies do not kill him, the clueless and incompetent Education Ministry would definitely destroy his ambition for a second term. His refusal to drop the incredibly useless Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek is a God-sent gift to the Opposition.
In yet another spectacular U-turn, the Madanistan government has scrapped a plan for six-year-olds to take a “diagnostic test” for primary school enrollment due to concerns the requirement was discriminatory and would hinder the access of children who fail it. The embarrassing flip-flop was announced by Anwar on Tuesday (Jan 27), just a week after the government stubbornly and arrogantly bulldozed the plan.
The “diagnostic test”, whatever it means, would lower the age of enrollment in primary schools by a year, from seven years old to six. Proposed by Fadhlina on Jan 22, the test aimed to assess the readiness of children for Year One, including their skill level and ability to cope in the classroom. But the half-baked and hastily rushed plan has immediately triggered criticism.
Perhaps Fahdlina – PM Anwar’s favourite minister – got the brilliant idea when a car mechanic plugged an OBD2 scanner to read, diagnose and reset her car’s engine problems. She probably thought a diagnostic test in primary schools worked the same way. Perhaps she should sit for a diagnostic test herself to ascertain her competency as the education minister.
After Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan alliance was annihilated in the Sabah state election in November last year, Mr Anwar – whose approval rating plunged to 33%, before climbing to 46% but remains below the 50% threshold – has been desperate to boost his popularity before the next 16th General Election. When Malaysia launched its National Education Blueprint 2026-2035 on January 20, it was supposed to win applause.
Instead, the idiotic proposal to lower the primary school entry age to six from next year, with preschool entry at age five, backfires. The option of earlier enrollment in primary school, as well as the diagnostic test, sparked concerns, with parents, educators and politicians questioning if schools could cope with a larger cohort. It was both amusing and surprising that the education ministry hadn’t thought of such basic issues.
“A single cohort alone is over 400,000. When it’s over 400,000 pupils, who is going to do all the tests?” – questioned Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainudin on Jan 22. “How does the ministry plan to ensure facilities at school are enough to accommodate our students? Secondly, are there adequate teachers and have enough preparations been made before you roll the initiative out?” – grilled former Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
“Teacher training can take up to five years, so this could make teacher shortages worse if planning is not phased,” – lectured National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary-general Fouzi Singon, who said the system might not be able to produce and place enough teachers in time. If opposition lawmakers could ask simple questions which the education minister can’t answer, it screams incompetence.
Defending the half-baked education policy, PM Anwar argued that the policy is meant to align Malaysia with global education standards rather than pressure children – “More than 100 countries around the world have enrolled their six-year-olds in Year 1. Why are we being late on this? Even most Asean countries already have this, except Indonesia, which does it selectively. So, we need to expedite it,” – he said.
Sure, more than 100 countries around the world do not have racist, discriminatory and apartheid education systems like Malaysia too. So, why doesn’t Anwar government similarly expedite the removal of the quota system restricting minority Chinese and Indian students from enrolling in public universities to align Malaysia with global education systems?
While Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos, Brunei and the Philippines have primary education beginning at age six, preschool at exactly age five is compulsory only in Philippines and Vietnam. Not only did Anwar make a fool of himself with lies and ignorant statements, he also did not understand the real challenges on the ground.
Thinking that money could solve problems and hide his administration’s mishandling, Anwar said an extra RM800 million would be allocated to support the transition, including the hiring of 18,000 new teachers. But registration for the 2027 intake will run from Feb 15 to Mar 31 this year, while five-year-olds may enrol in preschool from Apr 6 this year, suggesting that the plan was already dead on arrival (DOA).
Without proper consultation with all stakeholders, a comprehensive study was clearly not done, potentially creating irreversible dangerous problems by putting 400,000 students as gambling chips. It appears Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, just like her boss Anwar Ibrahim, who was himself a former education minister (1986-1991), is experimenting children’s future like a guinea pig.
During his tenure as education minister, Anwar introduced numerous controversial policies in the national school curriculum. One of his major changes was to rename the national language from Bahasa Malaysia to Bahasa Melayu, a decision later reverted in 2007 under the premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. It was part of Anwar’s Islamization of the education system.
Anwar is also the same radical Malay leader who had bulldozed the appointment of 100 non-Mandarin-speaking headmasters and senior assistants at Chinese schools, sparking massive controversy with the Chinese community and educationalists. The policy led to widespread protests, a boycott threat from the ethnic Chinese, and escalated racial tensions, ultimately contributing to the political crackdown known as “Operation Lalang” in 1987.
Having hoodwinked the public that Fadhlina’s plan was the best invention since sliced bread, and blindly defended the policy with an argument that Malaysia cannot afford to lag behind global education standards or delay students’ learning by another year, it’s hilarious that Anwar now suddenly chickens out over the “diagnostic test” for primary school enrollment.
If indeed the policy was so fabulous in the first place, should not the premier decisively proceed with the implementation instead of an abrupt U-turn? After all, it was him who lectured 34 million Malaysians how, according to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), 137 countries have implemented school enrollment at age six.
Strangely, PM Anwar is behaving like the Education Minister whilst Fadhlina Sidek is nowhere to be seen, hiding and squirming. You can bet your last dollar that the education minister herself has no idea what the diagnostic test consists of. Her officials probably threw the jargon during a brainstorming session by consulting Dr Google just to keep her happy.
The burning question is what exactly has Fadhlina been doing over the past 3 years in the education ministry. At best, she did not prepare for the National Education Blueprint 2026-2035 until the last minute. At worst, she has been sleeping on the job for 3 years. Either way, she has won the contest as the most clueless, useless and hopeless minister in the Anwar administration.
From the beginning, it was a huge mistake to scrap the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) and Form Three Assessment (PT3) examinations, which were temporarily suspended by the previous backdoor governments of Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri during the Covid-19 pandemic. But they were abolished without a good reason.
Under Anwar administration since November 2022, the education ministry has been flip-flopping – from keeping the exams abolished, before reviewing the potential revival of the exams, to confirming that these exams are “no longer relevant or suitable for the times” and will not be reinstated – despite some calls for their return to boost academic standards.
It’s not hard to determine whether both exams are relevant or not – just look at neighbouring Singapore. The only reason why Singapore did not simply scrap its primary and secondary exams despite Covid-19 like Malaysia is because the Malaysian education ministry has become lazy and took the easy way out. Without UPSR and PT3, everyone has more time to rest, relax and play smartphone.
Fadhlina has to explain why – and since when – the UPSR and PT3 suddenly become irrelevant and unsuitable. Even if the exams are obsolete, the education minister has to explain why a so-called more holistic, school-based assessment approach which she had previously promoted as replacements for UPSR and PT3 has failed.
Like it or not, exam-oriented systems are still needed because they provide a structured, measurable way to assess student knowledge. It helps identify academic strengths and weaknesses, encourages regular study habits, improves study consistency, promotes time management, and ensures essential curriculum mastery.
The abolition of UPSR and PT3 exams in Malaysia has led to reduced student motivation, lower academic focus, lack of clear academic benchmarks, and increased anxiety among parents regarding learning progress. It’s not a coincidence that teachers have reported that many students struggle with fundamental skills, such as basic multiplication, division, and writing as students are taking their studies less seriously.
The sudden drop in student quality after the abolition of UPSR and eventually PT3 is largely due to a sudden disappearance of a long-proven exam-oriented system, and partly because teachers aren’t ready for such a change. Teachers do not care about students’ academic achievement and students do not care about basic skills because there isn’t any meaningful measurement anymore.
Given a choice, the dumb and lazy education minister would like to also scrap SPM (O-Level) and STPM (A-Level), allowing all students to enter whichever universities and whatever courses they like to make everyone happy,even if it means grooming more unemployable graduates. Yes, it’s about quality education, and not about squeezing younger students into schools that prioritize religious studies.
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January 28th, 2026 by financetwitter
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