The Ministry of Education (MOE) has decided to abolish the Ministry of Education Training Management System (SPLKPM) starting next year as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce teachers’ administrative workload and allow them to refocus on teaching and learning in the classroom.
Education Minister, Datuk Seri Fadhlina Sidek said the decision was made following continuous assessments of teachers’ workload, as well as feedback from educators who viewed the system as burdensome and distracting from their core responsibilities.
“The abolition of SPLKPM was decided because it has a direct impact on teachers’ welfare and workload. Every step taken reflects MOE’s ongoing commitment to ensuring teachers can fully concentrate on pedagogy and classroom-based reforms,” she said.
She was speaking at the handover ceremony of the Sheikh Tahir Jalaluddin Religious Secondary School (SMKA) project in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
Fadhlina said the move is expected to provide teachers with greater space to focus on students and improve the quality of teaching, particularly ahead of the implementation of the new curriculum and education development plans scheduled to begin in 2026.
“Next year, teachers must devote their full attention to teaching, enhancing the quality of learning and ensuring that preparations for Curriculum 2026 and the education direction towards 2027 can be implemented more effectively,” she said.
According to her, SPLKPM has long been among the main issues raised by teachers, as its administrative requirements were seen as interfering with their primary duties in schools.
“Any measure that has the potential to reduce teachers’ workload will be seriously considered, with careful evaluation of its long-term impact on the education system as a whole,” she added.
For the record, SPLKPM was introduced in 2010 as an online portal to manage professional training for teachers and MOE officers, including the recording of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits, access to online courses and the issuance of digital certificates.
The system was developed to standardise the management of In-Service Training (LDP), which was previously recorded manually and separately at the school and district education office levels, thereby facilitating more systematic monitoring of teacher training.
However, under the system, teachers were required to complete a minimum of 42 training hours annually, a requirement that was increasingly viewed as burdensome by a large segment of the estimated 430,000 to 450,000 teachers under MOE, including those in primary and secondary schools, special education and school administration.
Meanwhile, Fadhlina emphasised that the ministry will continue to examine consistent and sustainable approaches to reducing teachers’ workload in order to strengthen the quality of national education over time.
-EDUCATION TVET ASIA