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Education in Malaysia

Education in Malaysia may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling. The education system is highly centralised, particularly for primary and secondary schools, with state and local governments having little say in the curriculum or other major aspects of education. As in other Asian countries such as Singapore and China, standardised tests are a common feature, contributing to the high numbers of school dropouts.

Education in Malaysia has been criticized by many on the poor command of English, “leak questions”, brain drain and racial polarization, a series of problems coming from obscurantism. Notable individuals criticized the education system are Raja Nazrin Shah, Rais Yatim, Khoo Kay Kim, Syed Farid Alatas, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Tony Pua and many more from the public.

Tertiary

Tertiary education in the public universities is heavily subsidised by the government. Applicants to public universities must have completed the Malaysia matriculation programme or have an STPM grade. Excellence in these examinations does not guarantee a place in a public university.The selection criteria are largely opaque as no strictly enforced defined guidelines exist.

The classification of tertiary education in Malaysia is organised upon the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) which seeks to set up a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis both in the vocational as well as higher educational sectors.

In 2004, the government formed the Ministry of Higher Education to oversee tertiary education in Malaysia. The ministry is headed by Mustapa Mohamed.

Although the government announced a reduction of reliance of racial quotas in 2002, instead leaning more towards meritocracy. However, in 2004, 128 non-Malay or non-Bumiputra students with excellent results had their applications to study medicine at public universities denied.[verification needed] (See Issues in Malaysian Education.)



Prior to 2004, all lecturers in public tertiary institutions were required to have some post-graduate award as a requisite qualification. In October 2004, this requirement was removed and the Higher Education Ministry announced that industry professionals who added value to a course could apply for lecturing positions directly to universities even if they did not have postgraduate qualifications. To head off possible allegations that the universities faced a shortage of lecturers, Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said “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…Let’s say Bill Gates and Steven Spielberg, both well known and outstanding in their fields, want to be teaching professors. Of course, we would be more than happy to take them in.” He went on to offer architecture as an example whereby well-known architects recognized for their talents did not have a masters degree.

The academic independence of public universities’ faculty has been questioned. Critics like Bakri Musa cite examples such as a scientist who was reprimanded by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak for “publishing studies on air pollution”, and a professor of mathematics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia who was reproved for criticising the government policy of teaching mathematics and science in English at the primary and secondary levels.

Students also have the choice of attending private institutions of higher learning. Many of these institutions offer courses in cooperation with a foreign institute or university. Some of them are branch campuses of these foreign institutions.

Many private colleges offer programmes whereby the student does part of his degree course here and part of it in the other institution, this method is named “twinning”. The nature of these programs is somewhat diverse and ranges from the full “twinning” program where all credits and transcripts are transferable and admission is automatic to programs where the local institution offers an “associate degree” which is accepted at the discretion of the partnering university. In the latter case, acceptance of transcripts and credits is at the discretion of the partner.

Some foreign universities and colleges have also set up branch campuses in Malaysia, including:

The net outflow of academics from Malaysia led to a “brain gain” scheme by then (1995) Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed. The scheme set a target of attracting 5,000 talents annually. In 2004, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis in a parliamentary reply stated that the scheme attracted 94 scientists (24 Malaysians) in pharmacology, medicine, semi-conductor technology and engineering from abroad between 1995 and 2000. At the time of his reply, only one was remaining in Malaysia.

Postgraduate Programmes

Postgraduate degrees such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) are becoming popular and are offered by both the public universities and the private colleges.

All public and most private universities in Malaysia offer Master of Science degrees either through coursework or research and Doctor of Philosophy degrees through research.

Vocational Programmes and Polytechnics Schools

Besides the university degrees, students also have the option of continuing their education in professional courses such as the courses offered by the ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators) etc. Polytechnics in Malaysia provide courses for diploma level (3 years) and certificate level (2 years).

The following is a list of the public polytechnics in Malaysia.

Universities produce almost 150,000 skilled graduates annually.

Types of Schools in Malaysia

These are the different types of schools in Malaysia and their naming conventions.

National Schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) for primary schools, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) for secondary schools)

Malay-medium schools where mother tongues are usually not taught. Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan, acronym SRK is used for certain national type primary schools.

National Type/Charter Secondary/High Schools/Residential Schools or Sekolah Berasrama Penuh (SBP)

Within the national public school system are a few magnet type/charter public high schools. Admissions are very selective, reserved for students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement and potential at the elementary level, Grade/Standard 1 through 6. These schools are either full time day or boarding schools (’asrama penuh’). Examples of these schools is the Malacca High School, Royal Military College (Malaysia) and Penang Free School.

Residential schools or Sekolah Berasrama Penuh are also known as Science Schools. These schools used to cater mainly for Malays elites but has since expanded as schools for nurturing Malays who are outstanding academically or those displaying talents in sports & leadership.

National Type Schools (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (SJK) for primary schools, Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) for secondary schools)

SJK is used for vernacular Chinese and Tamil primary schools. SMJK is only used for vernacular Chinese secondary schools because there are no vernacular Tamil secondary schools. Examples of these school are Jit Sin High School, Penang Chinese Girls’ High School and Chung Ling High School.

Chinese primary schools are usually run by a Board of Governors. They make decision for the school but not in all matters. One matter is the running of school canteens (cafeterias) where the operator is appointed by the Education department. In 2004 Education Minister Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn stated this function would be returned to the Board but it has yet to occur.

Between 1995 and 2000, the Seventh Malaysia Plan allocation for primary education development allocated 96.5% to national primary schools which had 75% of total enrolment. Chinese primary schools (21% enrolment) received 2.4% of the allocation while Tamil primary schools (3.6% enrolment) received 1% of the allocation.

Despite lack of government financial assistance, most students from Chinese schools excel in standardised tests. Some students from other ethnic backgrounds enrol in Chinese schools for the supposed better education. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng noted that the government refuses to fund Chinese primary schools despite the fact that 10% or 60,000 students are non-Chinese.

Vision schools

Recently, attempts have been made to establish (Sekolah Wawasan) or vision schools. Vision schools share facilities with one or more national schools, ostensibly to encourage closer interaction. However most Chinese and Indian ethnic groups object it as they believe this will restrict the use of their mother tougue in schools.

In 2004, the Prime Minister said “the national school, the main catalyst for the integration process in the young generation, has begun to lose its popularity as a school of choice, particularly among Chinese students”. He went on to say that only about two per cent of Chinese students attended national schools.

In response, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said that the seating arrangements of students, especially in primary schools, would be planned to allow for maximum interaction among the races. He also stated “The Education Department is looking at introducing National Integration as a subject in the school syllabus,” and that “The composition of teachers too should also reflect the various races”.

Islamic Religious Schools (Sekolah Rendah Agama (SRA) is used for primary schools, Sekolah Menengah Agama (SMA) is used for secondary schools.)

Sekolah Pondok (literally, Hut school), Madrasah and other Islamic schools were the original schools in Malaysia. Early works of Malay literature such as Hikayat Abdullah mention these schools indicating they pre-date the current secular model of education. The earlier Hindu culture pre-dating the Islamic period of Malay history did not appear to spawn any formalised educational structure.

Another type of schools available in Malaysia is the Islamic religious schools or sekolah agama rakyat (SAR). The schools teach Muslim students subjects related to Islam such as early Islamic history, Arabic language and Fiqh. It is not compulsory though some states such as Johor make it mandatory for all Muslim children aged six to twelve to attend the schools as a complement to the mandatory primary education. In the final year, students will sit an examination for graduation. Most SAR are funded by respective states and managed by states’ religious authority.

Previously, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohammad suggested to the government that the SARs should be closed down and integrated into the national schools. However, his proposal was met with resistance and later, the matter was left to die quietly.

Such schools still exist in Malaysia, but are generally no longer the only part of a child’s education in urban areas. Students in rural parts of the country do still attend these schools. Since the academic results published by these schools are not accepted by mainline universities, many of these students have to continue their education in locations such as Pakistan or Egypt. Some of their alumni include Nik Adli (Son of PAS leader Nik Aziz).

Some parents also opt to send their children for religious classes after secular classes. Dharma classes, Sunday schools and after school classes at the mosque are various options available.

International Schools

International schools in Malaysia include International schools funded by other nationalities such as the International School of Kuala Lumpur by the United States and International School Indonesia.

Chinese Independent High School

Chinese Independent High Schools are independent secondary schools funded mostly by the Chinese public, led by Dong Jiao Zong.

Dong Jiao Zong’s policy

A “Rooted” Chinese

According to UCSCAM (United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia), known as DJZ (Dong Jiao Zong - the stronghold/fortress of Chinese), it was the British colonial policy (1786-1957) allowing the vernacular language schools to exist and develop, at the same time enabling the Malays while placing restrictions on the Chinese. Students of British school gained better opportunities in employment than any other schools. Nevertheless, under such policy, the development of Chinese language education is thriving. Before Malaysia gained independency, the Chinese has had 1300 primary schools, nearly 100 high schools, and even a Nanyang University, built without the financial support of the government. The report of UCSCAM claimed that the main reason so many Chinese parents sending their children to Chinese school is that Chinese parents generally hope their next generation can become “A person that is like a Chinese people”, with love and awareness of nation, love their own culture and traditions, ethnic pride, and most importantly to have ethnic “root”.

Mr. Lim Lian Geok (Chinese:???), known as the “Soul of ethnic Chinese” (Chinese:”??”), he is the former president of Chinese education, said: “One’s culture is the soul of one’s ethnic, its value as important as our lives.” And if any of you (Chinese) want to inherit Chinese cultural heritage, and if any of you (Chinese) want to live a “root” Chinese, your children must be sent to Chinese school.

“Final goal”

The UCSCAM believed that the government of Malaysia is having a “final goal” to eradicate the Chinese schools and Tamil schools. The report claimed that the Government of Malaysia’s culture and language education policy, over the past 50 years was, to not give up implementation of the “final goal”, that is, only a final national origins of the school - “national school” with the Malay language (National language) as the main medium of instruction. The language of other ethnic groups, namely Chinese and Tamil, and so can only serve as a foreign language. The reason given by the government was that the Chinese and Tamil primary schools are the root cause of disunity of this country. In order to achieve “national unity”, all other non-National Schools should be restricted on the development, and finally merge with the National School.

“Do not give up and do not compromise”

The standpoint of UCSCAM is, only the implementation of multilingualism origins of school policy is the answer to Malaysia’s truly multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-language, multi-religious multi-national situations. Dong Jiao Zong’s distinctive position for this protest is unchanged over the last 50 years. Therefore, Dong Jiao Zong will continue to neither haughty nor humble in attitude, standing firm in maintaining the mother-tongue education, do not give up, do not compromise, ready to fight again for another 50 years.

Mission schools

Roman Catholic missionaries of the Josephian order also started a series of “mission schools” and many of these schools still stand and carry the names of various Roman Catholic saints. Due to government intolerance of non-Muslim views in the public space, none of these schools have brothers any more only SMJK Katholik, Petaling Jaya (Catholic High School, Petaling Jaya has a residance for a few Marist Brothers outside the school. There are also a series of convents which originally housed nuns but had a school attached to provide education to young girls. The education of young ladies at that time was considered very revolutionary. Similar to the brother schools, many of these convents no longer house nuns and so are convents in name only. The Lasallian Brothers also started a series of schools in Malaysia and Singapore. Some of these schools include St Xavier’s in Penang, St. Francis Institution in Malacca, St Michael’s in Ipoh, St Paul’s in Seremban, St. George’s Institution in Taiping and St John’s Institution in Kuala Lumpur. Most of these schools still have at least one Lasallian Brother as a Chairman of the Board of Governors.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has maintained several Adventist schools in East Malaysia since 1939. The schools are officially known as Sekolah Rendah Advent for primary schools and Sekolah Menengah Advent for secondary schools, abbreviated to SR Advent and SM Advent. The secondary schools were established as boarding schools, but now admit day students, who account for about half of the total enrollment.

The Methodist Church in Malaysia also established a set of mission schools and these schools carry the name ACS (Anglo-Chinese School) and MGS (Methodist Girls School). The Methodist schools still maintain a single private school called Methodist College.

The Anglican Church in Malaysia established a number of schools such as St Mary’s in Kuala Lumpur and St Mary’s in Kuching which is the Oldest School in Sarawak.

Very few mission schools are co-educational, with the bulk being single-sex schools. Many schools in the Roman Catholic school system that have since become national (public) schools are now co-educational. The Seventh-day Adventist school system has been co-educational since its establishment.

Article Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Malaysia