Dr Annuar: With IGCSE, Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary Schools won't be affected by changes to national education policies (Video)
File photo shows the first Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School cohort and staff.
KUCHING (May 20): The sustainability and quality of education offered by Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary Schools are assured under the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) syllabus, said Dr Annuar Rapaee.
The Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation, and Talent Development said the IGCSE, which is run by Cambridge Assessment International Education, a part of the University of Cambridge, is widely adopted by international schools worldwide and reflects the latest developments in teaching and learning pedagogy.
'In other words, it is not affected by any form of changes to the policy by the national system because it is an international syllabus.
'Whoever changes the national syllabus will not affect our international students, who are in this school.
'Therefore, I can assure you that this form is sustainable, as well as the quality will be assured by the IGCSE,' he said during the question-and-answer session at the State Legislative Assembly here today.
He was responding to questions from Iskandar Turkee (GPS-Jepak), who had asked the ministry about the new Yayasan Sarawak International School in Bintulu and what the state government is doing to ensure the sustainability and quality of education at the new school.
Dr Annuar said the new Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School in Jepak New Township will adopt the comprehensive and standardised educational framework aligned with the IGCSE syllabus.
'Cambridge University will monitor periodically and provide feedback to assess the effectiveness of teaching and learning, in accordance with the standards,' he said.
He explained that the school will cater to students from Years 7 to 11, with the Cambridge Checkpoint exam in Year 9.
'This checkpoint examination is very important. Number one, because it will compare peers to peers not only locally, as it is an international examination, therefore it will also compare us with other international students.
'This examination consists of three subjects – Mathematics, Science, and English – and it is assessed throughout according to the topics of the subject. Not only the subject, but based on each individual topic within that subject. And the score is given from one to 50,' he said.
He shared that the first cohort of students at Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School Petra Jaya managed scores above the international average.
'In other words, they are better off than many of international students who sat for this examination.
'This is very important because we know that these students are above other international students, so in other words, what we are doing now is on the right path for our students in Sarawak,' he stressed.
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