HISTORY OF EDUCATION

EDUCATION ACT (EA) 1961

Introduction
• The Education Act (EA) 1961 was enacted, pursuant to the Rahman Talib’s Report of
1960, in turn, was based on the Razak Report of 1956
• Razak Report 1956 was suited in education system by Rahman Talib’s Report 1960
and next become the Education Act 1961
• Thus, the contents and points of Education Act 1961 is similar as the Rahman Talib’s
Report 1960

Contents of Education Act 1961

• No fees for lesson in primary school
• Primary school become Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan
(SJK)
• Schooling until age 15 years old for continuation school
• Where there are 15 or more Muslim pupils, religious class will be provided. Similarly,
the Education Act provides that at the request of at least 15 pupils, a Tamil or
Mandarin teacher would be provided from Standard III upwards to secondary schools
(Clause 36)
• Emphasis on moral values
• Provided trained teachers and education aids
• Empowering the national language
• The establishment of common curriculum

Challenges of Education Act 1961

• Although the purpose and wish of the Education Act is to integrate all races in
Malaysia but because of different polar home places, it was difficult to achieve
• Malay lives in the villages, Chinese living in mine area and Indians living in the
rubber estate and plantations
• Other reports have been published and reported such as Hussein Onn Report 1971 and
Mahathir Report 1976 in order to review and examine again the Dasar Pendidikan
Negara based on Razak Report and Rahman Talib’s Report

EDUCATION IN 1957-1970

The Education in year 1957 – 1970 has 2 main focuses which is :-

(i) Democratization of Education
(ii) Education for national integration

The introduction of Razak report (1956) and the subsequent education ordinance (1957), saw
the emergence of a concerted effort to destroy the monointegration of ‘education’ to particular
group and bring out multiple integration of education to social institutions and the nation as a
whole
Some of the recommendation of Razak Reports
• The education in general would be instructed by the minister who would also be
responsible for secondary education, teacher training and other matters related to
education.
• The establishment of national type secondary school open to all races
• The curriculum of both the primary and secondary schools was to be Malay oriented
and this was to be implemented via common syllabus
• To facilitate the implementation of the national system of education, the education
committee of 1956 outlined certain principles with regard to teacher training :
(a) For primary school
All student teachers should have :
(i) successfully completed three years of secondary of education.
(ii) one year full time training followed by two years part time training in
colleges or in full time training units
(b) For specialist teachers of languages in primary schools and lower forms of
secondary schools
All students teachers should have
(i) full secondary education
(ii) two years full time training
(c) For subject teachers in lower secondary forms
All student teachers should have :
(i) full secondary education
(ii) two years full time training
(d) For teachers for trade schools
All student teachers should have
(i) successful completion of appropriate course in the Technical Institute
(ii) one year full time training at the Vocational Teacher’s Training Institute
followed by one year part time training.
(e) For teachers for technical institute
All student teachers should have
(i) fully secondary education followed by adequate and suitable industrial
training either and experience
(ii) one year of teaching training
either
(i) full secondary education followed by the or Diploma of the Technical College
(ii) suitable for teacher training

• In 1960, the Rahman Talib report recommended a new type of post-primary school to be
known Sekolah Pelajaran Lanjutan (continuation school) .
• These schools offered three further years of education upon completion of primary
education, with a vocational for pupils who fail to gain entry to other secondary school.
• In 1965, the comprehensive system was introduced and hence 6 years primary and 3 years
of lower secondary education became available to all children.
• To facilitate the aims of education as put forward by The Razak report 1956 and The
Rahman Talib Report 1960, teacher education took following direction.
Primary Teacher Training Courses
From the report of the Education Committee , it was decided to have a standard form of
teacher training in four different language media to cater for the four different language
types of Primary Schools.
- The length of training varied according to the academic qualifications as follows :
(i) 3 years training , made up of 2 years full time training plus 1 final year of weekend
training with part time teaching for students with only the minimum academic
qualifications of the LCE/SRP
(ii) 2 years full time training for students with the School Certificate with a credit in
main language.