STPM Baharu - The Form 6 College

The plan has been talked and discussed about for years, and recently it has finally implemented officially. And yes, with this I mean the Form 6 College. What is it all about? What is the possible impacts to the students, teachers and the authorities? Know more by continue reading this article!

Headline of Sin Chew Jit Poh on 21/2/2014, which means 'Form 6 will be gathered and study in the same place' in English

The whole issue is being reported by Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh on their headline on 21/2/2014, and little as it'll not affect most of the people in the society, but it definitely will cause lots of question-marks and worries among those who intend to further their studies by doing STPM.  

The Form 6 College

So, what is it all about? According to the news, two out of five new Form 6 College has started to operate, both being located at Selangor and Sabah. The 5 colleges are SMK Desa Mahkota (KL), SMK Bandaraya II (Sabah), SMK Petaling Jaya (Sel), SMK Sri Bandar Pontian (Johor) and SMK Mahsuri (Kedah). 

Main aim : To create a 'Pre-U' environment for the students and prepare them for their university life, as compared to most of the Form 6 students that usually study in secondary schools.

As for now, larger schools such as SMJK Katholik, PJ that provides Form 6 classes will not be affected, but Form 6 classes at smaller schools around such as SMK Sultan Abdul Samad, SMK SS17, SMK Bukit Bintang and SMK Taman Medan have been relocated to SMK Petaling Jaya at PJS 5, PJ to continue their Form 6 journey.

And that is not all, as this Form 6 College plan is a long one, and the authority has separated the whole idea into 3 phase-

Phase 1 is basically what you've read above, which is to separate Form 6 classes from the ordinary secondary school's streamline according to the condition of the particular area, and to give you a clearer picture, refer to the figure below:

The first form of separation is the most common form, which is to completely separate Form 6 from normal secondary schools, a.k.a Form 6 College. 

The second form of separation we will be seeing Form 6 students studying in the already-built secondary school, but Form 6 students will be studying in an individual block specially for them. As an example, SMJK Katholik (PJ, Selangor).

The last form of separation, which actually not a separation, means that Form 6 students will be studying under the same already-built secondary school, but without an individual block for them. This is only planned for the schools in rural areas where there are limited Form 6 students.

Phase 2 is the phase where the authority will introduce more subjects based on the needs of the modern, constantly improving society, which I believe will be a long wait.

Phase 3 will be decided based on the outcome from Phase 2.

The Impact

The whole idea, for me is quite ideal, but in the end it still depends on how the authority implement it. Below are some of my thoughts on the people that will be affected by this plan and the 'timeline impact' that I've structured out myself:

Teachers - Without doubt, Form 6 teachers will surely be affected by this plan. under the first form of separation (refer above) in Phase 1, some teachers will be relocated to teach at the newly built Form 6 College, which might cause the original responsibilities of the particular teacher at her old school to be affected. As an example, if the teacher also teaches KH subject or she is a teacher advisor of one of the club at her old school, it'll be a problem to look for a teacher that can take over her job as I believe that every teacher has their own job on their hand already (not to mention the stupid PBS system that has been causing wrath among the teachers). 

Plus, is the teacher willing to join the Form 6 College? Which comes to more complicated issues to be solved.

Students - They are definitely the ONE that got most affected through this plan. With the implementation of the Form 6 College, most of the 2013/14 batch of Form 6 students will need to be relocated to the new Form 6 College, that might cause inconvenience among the students such as transportation. But on the bright side, the 2014/15 batch of Form 6 will be able to study in a place specially built for them. All these years, returning to secondary school has been one of the major reason why SPM graduates do not opt for Form 6, and now the students have an extra option for their Pre-U study.

In addition, I think through Form 6 College, the involvements of students in co-curricular activities will be more flexible because everything is created to suit only Form 6 students, which means earning koko marks might actually becomes easier!

Timeline Impact - 

• Present - For now, we cannot say much whether this whole Form 6 College implementation is going to bring positive outcome or not, as there are more perspectives that we haven't discover regarding this issue, such as how exactly this whole college will be run, what subjects will be offered at each college, the fate of the 2013/14 batch of students, problems with teacher resources. In this context, people will surely focus on how the authority manage the challenges and changes with the implementation of this new plan. And this time, the authority will need to deliver and not disappoint the society, as in the previous introduction of the STPM Baharu (replacing the old STPM Terminal), the authority did poorly in bringing out the full potential of this system, causing disappointment and wrath among the students and even teachers.   

• Near Future - My personal opinion, I think things will get better, but in the near future main issues of Form 6 students will not be solved. As an example, the placement of Form 6 students in public universities. Besides, we might also see more larger schools such as SMJK Katholik will stop providing Form 6 classes (just my opinion), because the whole Form 6 College idea is ultimately gather all the Form 6 students in a particular area. 

• The Future - If being implemented the right way, I can see more and more SPM graduates opt for Form 6 as their Pre-U, but as I said, the way the authority implement the whole new system is the key. If everything is still causing unhappiness among the students and unfairness, it is meaningless to splash the money to do extra useless thingy. But, lets maintain a positive mindset and lets see how they will go with the whole system. 

To Conclude...........

Well, it is definitely a good thing to see the authority doing something to improve Form 6, albeit we cannot see the positive outcome, yet. We can only hope for the best and wish that Form 6 students will continue to work hard to strive for the best results no matter what challenges (academic or faulty system) awaiting them ahead. And ah, I almost forget, some will think that the level of Form 6 will drop, but I am pretty sure it will not, as we can already see from the syllabus under the new STPM Baharu (it is not easy). 

So, thanks for reading and until the next article, ciaoz!