EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

IN MALAYSIA
 Introduction to education in Malaysia
o Minister of Education : Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
o Budget : RM 54.6 billion (2014)
o Established : 1956
o Under control of : Ministry of Education but each state has an
Education Department.
o Divided into : 1) preschool education
2) primary education ( compulsory )
3) secondary education
4) post-secondary education
5) tertiary education
 History of education in Malaysia
1) Sekolah Pondok (hut school) and Madrasah is the earliest
form of schooling available in Malaysia.
2) Secular schools were introduced after the British colonial
came to Malaysia. (earliest school at Penang, Malacca &
Singapore).
3) British historian :
- Richard O. Winstedt worked on improving the education in
Malaya by established Sultan Idris Training College to
produce Malay teachers.
- Richard James Wilkinson helped established the Malay
College Kuala Kangsar to educate Malay elite.
4) China and Indian immigrants who came to Malaya during
British colonial period established their vernacular schools
with school curricula and teachers from China and India .
5) In the 1990s, four initials proposals for developing the
national education system were introduced :
i. Barnes Report
ii. Ordinance Report
iii. Fenn-Wu Report
iv. Razak Report
 History of education after independence
• Chinese and Tamil school accepted government funding and were allowed
to retain their teaching medium and they adopt to national curriculum.

• Chinese secondary schools were given the option of accepting

government funding and change into English national-type schools or
remain Chinese and private (known as Chinese Independent High
School) without government funding.

• In 1970s, in agreement to the national language policy, the government

began to change English-medium primary and secondary national –type
schools into Malay-medium national schools.
• In 1996, the Education Act of 1996
was introduced to change the
Education Ordinance of 1956 and
the Education Act of 1961.

• In 2004, the Minister of Education

were split into two :
- Ministries of Education.
- Ministries of Higher Education.
In 2013, both ministries were
recombined to form Ministries of
Education.
 Preschool education
• Schooling can start as early as 3-6 years
old. Then , they will proceed to primary
schools.

• A formal mandatory training and

certification for principals and teachers
need to be taken before they start running
a preschool.

• The training covers lessons on child

psychology, teaching methodologies and
other related curricula on childcare and
development.
 Primary education
• Begin at age 7 to 12 years old and named as year 1 to year 6.
• From 1996 until 2000,the Penilaian Tahap Satu (PTS) or the
Level One Evaluation was administered to Year 3 students.
Excellence in this test allowed students to skip Year 4 and
attend Year 5. However, the test was removed from 2001 due
to parents and teachers concern that the exam pressuring the
students.
• Before furthering the secondary schools Year 6 students for
UPSR or Primary School Achievement Test.
• Public primary schools divided into two :
i. Malay-medium National Schools (SK)
ii. non-Malay-medium National-type Schools / vernacular
schools:
- National-type School (Chinese) SJK( C )
- National-type School ( Indian) SJK ( T )
• Malay and English are compulsory subjects in all schools
 Secondary education
• Public secondary education provided by National Secondary
Schools (SMK).
• Since 2003, Science and Mathematics had been taught in
English but in 2009 the government decided to revert to
using Malay starting in 2012.
• Co-curricular activities are compulsory at the secondary level
where all students must participate at least 2 activities for
most state but 3 activities for Sarawak.
 ctd. secondary education
• At the end of form 3, the Lower Secondary Evaluation /Pentaksiran
Tingkatan 3 (PT3) taken by student.
• Based on the result , they will be given three streamed to choose (1)
academic stream (Science/Art) (2) technical and vocational stream (3)
religious stream.
• In 2013, government announced to replace Lower Certificate of
Education (PMR) with new evaluation, PBSMR ( Penilaian Berasaskan
Sekolah Menengah Rendah ) or Lower Secondary School Based
Assesstment .
• Form 5 students required to take Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) /
Malaysian Certificate of Education examination.
• In 2006, students are given a GCE ‘O’ Level grade for their English
paper in addition to the normal English SPM paper.
• Other types of government or government- aided secondary
schools include Religious Secondary School (SMA), Technical
Schools (SMT), Fully Residential Schools and MARA Junior
Science College (Maktab Rendah Sains MARA).
• Residential Schools or Sekolah Berasrama Penuh also known
as Science Schools modeled after British Boarding School.
 Post-secondary education
• After SPM, students would have choice of either studying
Form 6 , matriculation and foundation.
• Form 6 also known as Malaysian Higher School Certificate
examination its British equivalent is the General Certificate of
Education ‘A’ Levels examination or internationally.
• Not like STPM, matriculation certificate only valid for
universities in Malaysia and several universities in New
Zealand and UK which recognize MoE matriculation as pre-U
programme.
• Foundation is a full time preparatory pre-degree programme
to prepare students for entrance to degree programme .
 Tertiary education
• In 2004, all the lecturers in public universities were required to have
some post-graduate award as a requisite qualification.
• But in October 2004,this requirement was removed and the Higher
Education Ministry announced that industry professionals who
added value to a course could for lecturing positions directly to the
universities even they didn’t have postgraduate qualifications.
“This is not because we are facing a shortage of lecturers, but because this
move will add value to our courses and enhance the name of our universities…
Lets’s say Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg, both (undergraduates but) well
known and outstanding in their fields, want to be teaching professors. Of
course, we would be more than happy to take them in”

Datuk Fu Ah Kiow
Deputy Higher Education
Minister (2004)
• Students also have the option to enroll in private universities.
Many of these institution collaborate with foreign universities
especially in U.S,U.K and Australia allowing students to spend
some of their course duration abroad.
• For example SEGi University College which partnered with
University of Abertay Dundee.
• There are also a few of branch campuses in Malaysia for
example: Monash University Malaysia Campus, Curtin
University of Technology Sarawak Campus, University of
Nottingham Malaysia Campus and University of Reading
Malaysia.
• Polytechnics in Malaysia provide courses for Bachelor Degree,
Advanced Diploma, Diploma and Special Skills Certificate.
 Others type of schools
• System of Islamic religious schools exists in Malaysia :
I. Sekolah Rendah Agama (SRA)
II. Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA)
III. Sekolah Agama Bantuan Kerajaan (SABK)
• Some of the academic results published by this schools
accepted by mainline universities by taking Malaysia High
Certificate of Religious Study (STAM)
• Chinese Independence High Schools funded mostly by
Malaysian Chinese Public with United Chinese School
Committees Association of Malaysia.
• Chinese Independence High Schools funded mostly by
Malaysian Chinese Public with United Chinese School
Committees Association of Malaysia.
• Students in Chinese independence schools take standardized
test Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) in three levels.
I. Vocational Unified Exam (UEC-V)
II. UEC Junior Middle Level (UEC-JML)
III. UEC Senior Middle Level (UEC-SML)
• UEC recognized in Singapore, Australia, Hong-Kong, Taiwan,
China and some European country but not in Malaysia.
• But some chinese independence school provide syllabus to
enable their students to sit for PT3, SPM & STPM.
 Educational Reports
1. The Barnes Report

2. The Fenn-Wu Report

3. The Razak Report

4. The Rahman Talib Report

5. Higher Education Committee Report

 In 1949, a Committee on Malay Education was set up to
inquiry into the adequacy or otherwise of the educational
facilities available for the Malays.

Headed by : L.J BARNES *

He note that :
 Many Malay boys who passed the
standard 4 examination did not
continue their study in English
Secondary School due to distance and
lack of transportation.
 The Committee found the standard of Malay
education to be low and attributed it to poor
physical facilities, lack of accommodation,
shortage of textbooks and general reading
material, low quality of handicrafts skills
taught, and the simultaneous introduction of
both Jawi and Rumi in Standard One.
 Proposed that Jawi be dropped
and religious instruction be taught
instead. (it suggested that Jawi be
taught among the Malays as part
of religious instruction)
the media of instruction. **
English and Malay would be
The
The
national schools were in

Result
Result: :
vernacular schools into
transformation of all existing
Recommended the gradual

Proposed that the whole

secular curriculum of the
national school use the
romanized script.
 The Fenn-Wu Report

T.Y Wu* • d

Headed by : •

W.P Fenn
n

Associate Executive
Secretary of the Board of
Trustees of a institutions of
higher learning in China
 ~ The Fenn-Wu Report took an
opposing position to the
Barnes Report in its view of
cultural integration.

 It recommended government assistance in the

improvement of Chinese schools through better
equipment, facilities and trained teacher.

 It argued that if Malay was recognized as the

national language and English as lingua franca, and
Chinese had important cultural significance, then
‘the Chinese Malayans are likely to choose to be
trilingual and should be encouraged to do so’.
As a result, the government passed the
Education Ordinance of 1952.

The promotion of It
a national school It also recommended recommended
system by the the maintenance of that religious
gradual existing education be
introduction of provided to
English into Malay English national-type pupils either
vernacular school. within school
schools and Malay
and English premises or in
languages into suitable
Tamil and Chinese premises close
vernacular by as part of
schools. the school
lessons.

Teachers that
Education responsible to
Major Ordinance teach religious
features. of 1952. education should
be certified by an
appropriate
religious authority
 The Razak Report
Composed of representatives from the
different communities.

Headed by :
Tun Abdul Razak bin Hussain*

This committee was required to :

 To examine the present educational policy of the

Federation of Malaya

 To recommend any alterations or adaptations that are

necessary with a view to establish a national system of
education acceptable to the people of the Federation as
a whole.
 It recommended the introduction of common content syllabuses and
the compulsory study of the national and English languages in all
primary and secondary schools in order to orient pupils with a
Malayan outlook, to inculcate national consciousness, and to foster
mutual understanding among the citizens of various races and
religious.

It made higher
education available to It recommended
all ethnic groups by equal grants be
proposing an extension provided to all
of English language schools irrespective
instruction to all The result : of the medium of the
schools and the instruction and
provision of equal provision of similar
opportunities for training facilities to
promotion to all teachers, thus
secondary schools. ending
discrimination
It recommended conversion of against the
existing primary schools to vernacular schools.
national schools (Malay medium)
and national-type schools
(English, Chinese and Tamil
medium)
On religious instruction, The Razak Report
recommended that :

 In any assisted school where not less than 15

pupils profess the Muslim religion, religious to
them shall be provided at public expense.

 In instruction in other religions to other pupils

may be provided so long as no additional cost falls
upon public funds.

 No child shall be required to attend classes in

religious instruction without parent’s consent.
 The Rahman Talib Report

 In 1960 an Education Review Committee was formed to

review the National Education Policy, particularly its
implementation.
 Its submitted report known as Rahman Talib Report.
 This report recommended universal free primary education
and automatic promotion up to Form Three.
 This report sanctioned the continuance of the two types of
schools, national schools (Malay language) and national-
type schools (English, Chinese and Tamil language).
 However, it required that examinations in secondary schools
be given only in two official languages of the country,
namely, Malay and English.
 Emphasis on religious and moral education.
Higher Education Committee Report

• Introduction of KBSR and KBSM

(emphasis on co-curriculum
programs, uniform bodies,
club/societies, and sports.

 To develop and enhance relationship

 To spend time wisely
 To apply and reinforce knowledge in classroom
 To train them to be confident & independent
 To help students to complete academic achievements