PUTRAJAYA: Students of Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Tunku Kurshiah College may soon choose if they want to sit for the International Baccalaureate (IB) or the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia.

The IB diploma programme can be used for entry into major universities around the world.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hisham?muddin Tun Hussein announced that both schools would be offering the IB from 2011.

"It will be up to the schools to decide if students can sit for one or both examinations," he told reporters after releasing the third report card based on the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010.

In March last year, Hishammuddin said heads of cluster schools would be given autonomy in five key areas: human resources, school funds, student intake, teaching and learning, and examinations and evaluation.

"The heads of both colleges have been given the flexibility to decide. On our part, we want to see results," he said.

Cluster schools have been defined in the blueprint as excellent schools within an existing grouping, and each is supposed to be a role model for other schools.

The schools can apply for funding of up to RM500,000 to carry out various projects, and must also identify niche areas (curriculum and non-curriculum) that they want to focus on.

To date, Hishammuddin said the 30 cluster schools from the first batch had received half of their funding, with the rest to be given based on the performance of the schools.

He said several of the cluster schools were already showing excellent results.

"This includes SK Ulu Lubai in Limbang, Sarawak. This is a rural school but its pupils have a good command of English and have done well in sports and cultural activities," he said.

Friday September 26, 2008

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Hi, I'm an old boy who did the IB after graduating from MCKK in 2002. Erm, forgive me if I'm wrong here but for some reason I can't really get my head around this.

As far as I know, IB is an alternative equivalence to A-Levels while SPM is on par with the GCSE level. Isn't the normal way of things is to do the GCSE level (SPM) first and then do A-Levels/IB? And how is it that students can choose if they're not really of the same difficulty? The IB is a far more demanding course compared to the SPM, which is to be expected since it's used for university entries while you can't go into university with just an SPM qualification. And is it really okay to skip SPM and just do the IB straight away, as the article seems to suggest?

Sorry for all the questions. I might have missed something totally obvious, having been away from M'sia for so long. But it'll be good if somebody can clarify some of the things above.

Yazid Jay Jalani , October 03, 2008

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to Mr. Yazid Jay Jalani

I am an old boy from class of 2006 and currently doing IB. Based on your comment it is true that IB is equivalence to A-levels and SPM is only equivalence to O-levels. Logically, a student must finish the O-levels first which is the SPM and then only the student can proceed with IB. However, according to IB Diploma requirement (www.ibo.org), any student as early as at the age of 16 can take IB. So basically for Malaysians they can take IB just after they finished their PMR. I have a friend doing IB and he does not even have PMR certificate because he was from China and his family put him in IB at the age of 16. But i really don't suggest Malaysians to skip SPM and straight away take IB because IB is way different from malaysian education system. I think PMR does not produce student who are mature enough to take IB. Even I, a SPM graduate, find myself in difficulty doing IB during the first semester. So for those students who want to skip SPM and straight away take IB, think carefully.There are pros and cons for choosing SPM or IB.

Engku Ali Aminulhakim bin E. Mohd Shukri , November 12, 2008

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Hi,
I'm from class of 2005, and IB 0608 graduate. As far as I'm concerned, the difference between SPM an IB is just that you need more effort in IB considering you learn deeper in every subjects compared to SPM. However, in SPM, you have to take up 10 subjects whilst in IB you have to take up 6 subject groups plus completing the CAS, EE and TOK essays. Seeing it this way, CAS is more or less resembles the co-curriculum and EE and TOK won't do you harm if you're not a procrastinator. The cons of choosing IB is that the certificate is still not recognized in universities in Malaysia, though, some higher institutions might accept them and perhaps the ministry of higher education might change the policy regarding acceptance into higher institutions with IB Diploma. Whatever it is, its your choice and I'm only here to have my say.
-IB survivor-

Awang Mohd Ridhwan Mohd Noordin , December 07, 2008

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I am a Malaysian and I have been studying the IB MYP program since 2005. I am now doing the IB diploma program and going to graduate on May 2009. Well, IB diploma is really a tough program and it requires a lot of independent thinking. Unlike Malaysian education,independent research is important too when u wanna write an essay or do a project and books from teachers are certainly not enough. IB is well-recognised in the world if u really wanna go overseas. U will have a much better opportunity to go into good colleges from all over the world if u take the IB.

Overall, it is a MUCH BETTER education (more challenging as well) than Malaysian education BUT think twice before u make a decision. Do u wanna memorise the whole book (Msian stupid education) or u want more independent thinking (there is group work also anyway..)?? It's all up to u. OH YA, FOR PPL WHO DO NOT LIKE BAHASA MALAYSIA, YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO STUDY IT IN IB!!!!

Johnny Lee , December 08, 2008

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Emmm, thanks for all the replies/comments, I think.

I really like the IB diploma, so it's interesting to see it being implemented in MCKK (even though I still can't see the point in doing that apart from just to be different). My only hang-up is the notion that students can do the IB straight away without doing SPM, because I can't visualise anybody doing A-Levels right after PMR. But then again, maybe I'm just reading the article wrong. It is not clearly stated in the article after all, and that's just the impression that I got after reading it.

@E.A.Aminulhakim:
Thanks for pointing out the age range for the diploma. There is a simple explanation for it actually. In countries like the UK, most students finish their GCSE/O-Levels around the age of 15 before doing the A-Levels at 16 (and university at 18 ) so it's natural for the IB to also admit 16 year-old students. I'm not sure we can extrapolate it to the situation in Malaysia in which people finish the GCSE equivalent (SPM) at 17. If the administration does allow it and the students think they're good enough, then I'm not saying they shouldn't. I just hope they're aware of the reason behind the 16-19 range, rather than just think, "Oh, I'm 16 and eligible, so I should do the IB."

@A.M.Ridhwan:
I don't know about Malaysian universities, but it's good enough for Oxbridge.

Yazid Jay Jalani , December 09, 2008 | url

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Hi, Yazid Jay, of course its good enough for Oxbridge, cause IB is recognized in the whole world. Then I was doing IB, we were told that higher institutions in Malaysia has yet to recognize the certificate, except for some like RCMP and IMU. Again, IB much resembles SPM being the only difference that in IB, you have to be able to act independently, but, from where I graduated, Kolej MARA Banting, we were guided even when doing our EE, where we have advisors for us to consult to. So, that makes not much difference from SPM in MCKK right? And I felt being in KMB was almost similar to my days in Koleq.
-0107805-

Awang Mohd Ridhwan Mohd Noordin , January 26, 2009

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