ISKANDAR PUTERI: The pilot Bangsa Johor school syllabus will not interfere with the existing national education policy outlined by the Education Ministry.
State education and information committee chairman Aznan Tamin said the schools involved only emphasise and add value to four elements.
He added that the four elements were strengthening English in addition to empowering the Bahasa Malaysia subject as well as improving skills in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
"This includes equivalent assessment for the three subjects of Science, Mathematics and English as well as extending learning to the higher education level.
"At the same time, we maintain the existing education syllabus, only the added value we give to the students of this pilot Bangsa Johor schools programme.
“The important thing is that it does not interfere with the education system and the current national education policy,” he said in a press conference held at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar here on Tuesday (Nov 26).
Aznan added that for example, the pilot school would implement the latest technology in the education field for subjects involving mathematics, science and English such as Strategies For English Learning and Reading (STELLAR).
He added that as part of its preparations for the pilot Bangsa Johor school, which would start in the 2025 school term, some 40 English teachers have been sent for training at National Institute of Education (NIE) Singapore.
“It is as an initial preparation, in addition to providing information to parents involved about the state government's intentions.
"The 40 English teachers have been sent for training at workshops by NIE to improve their proficiency and skills to a better grade," he said adding that two primary and two secondary schools were selected for the pilot programme.
Aznan said that the schools were SMK Kota Puteri 2 (2,352 students) and SK Kota Puteri 4 (532 students) in Pasir Gudang and SMK Tasek Utara (611 students) and SK Tasek Utara (802 students) in Johor Baru.
He said that the four schools involved were selected based on four main criteria, including schools that have one school session to maximise focus on student development, as well as proactive and committed school leadership to ensure the success of the planned programme.
Aznan added that the schools that were chosen have moderate achievements in order to provide an opportunity to raise the school's performance to a higher level.
"In the context of the relationship between the four schools, the selected primary schools act as feeders while the secondary schools acts as acceptors to ensure the continuity of student development.
"We started with four schools, if it is effective we will go to other schools. A period of three years is given, to assess where the pilot project is affective,” he said.
During the tabling of state Budget 2025 on last Thursday (Nov 21), Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced an allocation of RM6.2mil to kickstart the pilot Bangsa Johor school syllabus.
