From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Education in Malaysia may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling.
Education is divided into primary school consisting of Standards 1 to 6 (the equivalent of elementary school in the United States), secondary school consisting of Form 1 to Form 5 or 6 (analogous to a combination of Junior High and High School in the United States) and tertiary (college and graduate school).
The main language used for teaching is Malay, in order to promote racial unity in the aftermath of the May 13 1969 riots. Before then, the majority of teaching was conducted in English. However, in 2002, the government announced that from 2003 onwards, the teaching of Science and Mathematics would be done in English, in order to ensure that Malaysia will not be left behind in a world that was rapidly becoming globalised.
For primary school in the public system, schools are divided into those conducting a syllabus designed for everybody, a syllabus designed for Chinese and a syllabus designed for Tamils — however, it is worth noting that Chinese students are not mandated to study in a Chinese school, and so forth. Plans were drawn up to integrate these schools into one uniform system, but appear to have stalled. Until 2000, the Penilaian Tengah Sekolah or Middle School Evaluation test was given to certain students who were deemed to have qualified for it. However, the test was removed from 2001 onwards due to concerns that parents and teachers were unduly pressuring students. At the end of a student's primary education, in Standard 6, he/she takes the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah(UPSR) or Primary School Evaluation Test. The subjects tested are Malay comprehension, written Malay, English, Science and Mathematics. Concerns of too much pressure arose again in 2004 when it was revealed that a school in a rural area had cheated in order to produce better results on the test. The subjects taught in primary school are English, Malay, Science (introduced in 2003), Mathematics, Moral Education, Art, Physical Education and Music for Standards 1 till 3, with the addition of Local Studies(a mixture of History and Geography) and Life Skills. The information provided may vary for private and homeschools, but the UPSR is compulsory.
In public secondary schools, students from various racial schools are integrated into one unitary system. In Form 3, the Penilaian Menegah Rendah or Lower Secondary Evaluation is taken by students. Depending on their results, they will be streamed into either the Science stream or Arts stream. The Science stream is generally more prestigious, and students are allowed to elect to go to the Arts stream, but not vice-versa. In Form 5, students are required to take the Sijil Pembelajaran Malaysia or Malaysian Certificate of Education examination, before graduating from secondary school. Should they choose to continue studying in Form 6, they will also take the Sijil Pembelajaran Tinggi Malaysia or Malaysian Certificate of Higher Education examination. However, most students elect to skip Form 6 altogether and proceed to tertiary education. The information provided may vary for private and homeschools, but the examinations remain the same. There are also boarding schools, which are usually privately-run.
For tertiary education, there are several government-run institutes of higher learning, as well as other private ones.
