Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Centre of Education and Diversity senior lecturer Dr Anuar Ahmad said the weakness caused many students to find science and mathematics difficult and therefore erode their interest to study these subjects in secondary school.
" This is not science. It's a form of rote learning. But science is a process of trial and error, observation and testing," he told Bernama. He said, however, when Form 4 and 5 students have the opportunity, they choose other subjects besides science when the subject is no longer compulsory in SPM. Due to the volume of syllabus, he said teachers teaching the science and mathematics subjects are in a rush to complete the entire curriculum within the academic year to meet the key performance index .
National Union of Teaching Profession president Aminuddin Awang said due to the stigma that science, technology, engineering and mathematics are difficult to study, many students choose the arts stream.