Rose Amnah Abd Rauf described the increase from 576 hours to 608 over six years of primary school as a positive development.
However, Rose, a former head of Universiti Malaya’s mathematics and science education department, said the additional 32 hours would have little impact if teaching practices remained unchanged.
“If the extra time is used to help pupils understand and apply mathematics in solving real-world problems, it will bring significant benefits.
“But if it is spent merely rushing through the syllabus and drilling for exam results, it will only add to the burden and pressure on teachers and students,” she told FMT.
The education ministry said in a written parliamentary reply on Wednesday that the teaching and learning hours for mathematics would be increased to 3.5 hours per week for Level 1 and three hours per week for Levels 2 and 3.
Level 1 covers Year 1 and 2, Level 2 covers Year 3 and 4, and Level 3 covers Year 5 and 6.
According to the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2024 report, Malaysia’s 576 math hours are the lowest compared with the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.
Rose said the real issue was not just the number of hours, but the pedagogical approach used in classrooms.
She said one of the main challenges for teachers was selecting suitable methods for both high-performing and weaker pupils, who have differing levels of comprehension.
“The ‘one size fits all’ approach is no longer relevant. Teachers must implement differentiated learning – whether in terms of materials, teaching strategies or learning environment – according to students’ levels and pace,” she said.
Quality matters, not just quantity
Meanwhile, Anuar Ahmad, deputy director of the Malaysian Inclusive Development and Advancement Institute at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said many academic studies showed that longer learning times could improve student mastery.
“There are indeed studies confirming that the more time spent learning mathematics, the better the mastery can be. But it depends greatly on the quality of teaching,” he said.
He said the additional hours must be accompanied by efforts to strengthen teacher quality, particularly at Level 1.
“Mathematics teachers must be formally trained in the subject. It is inappropriate for teachers of other subjects to teach mathematics. Emphasis on teacher quality is key to the success of this policy,” he said.
He added that education policies could not be implemented on an ad hoc basis, but required comprehensive planning and coordination among teachers, school administrators, state education departments and the ministry.
“Even with extended hours and good teachers, if the syllabus is unsuitable or fails to address students’ needs, it will still be ineffective. The syllabus must be structured progressively – from daily to weekly to monthly planning – to ensure continuous and systematic learning,” he said.
Yunus Yasin, president of the Science, Technology and Innovation Association, described the increase in mathematics hours as a necessary step in line with students’ future needs, but said the roughly 2% or 32-hour increase was insufficient.
“Mathematics is not merely a job skill, but a fundamental life skill, like reading and writing. The method of teaching is crucial, as poor pedagogy can cause students to fall behind,” he said.