PUTRAJAYA, Feb 10 — Starting this year, the Ministry of Education has decided that all primary schools and state education departments should no longer practice School Average Grade (GPS) to determine the academic achievement of students.

Education Director-General Datuk Dr Amin Senin said this was because GPS alone could not be used as a yardstick of the overall school performance and student outcome.

However, he said the GPS in secondary schools, especially for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, would remain in practice.

"Prior to this, GPS was used as an indicator for average performance, but we have found that it has led to a culture that is not geared towards the development of students, and has caused the states to begin comparing themselves with each other.

"It eventually caused us to forget about the students are individually unique and have different capabilities. This does not mean that the GPS is not good, it just didn’t bring about the desired positive impact,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation (YaPEIM) Module Workshop here today. — Bernama