history of Malaysia education

Education in Malaysia may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling. The education system is highly centralized, 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, standardized tests are a common feature, contributing to the high numbers of school dropouts.

Secular schools in Malaysia were largely an innovation of the British colonial government. There were four initial proposals for developing the national education system: the Barnes Report, Razak's Report, Ordinan Report and the Fenn-Wu Report. The former proposal was implemented through the 1952 Education Ordinance.

Many of the earliest schools in Malaysia were started in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Melaka, and Singapore. The oldest English school in Malaya is the Penang Free School, founded in 1816, followed by Malacca High School, and Anglo Chinese School, Klang. Many of these schools still carry with them an air of prestige although there is no formal difference between these schools and other schools.

British historian Richard O. Winstedt was concerned with the education of the Malays and he was instrumental in establishing Sultan Idris Training College. The college was established with the purpose of producing Malay teachers. R J Wilkinson, Winstedt predecessor on the other hand helped established the Malay College Kuala Kangsar in 1905 which aimed to educate the Malay elite.



Initially, the British colonial government did not provide for any Malay-medium secondary schools, forcing those who had studied in Malay during primary school to adjust to an English-medium secondary school. Many Malays opted to drop out instead.[1] Despite complaints about this policy, the British Director of Education stated:
“ It would be contrary to the considered policy of government to afford to a community, the great majority of whose members find congenial livelihood and independence in agricultural pursuits, more extended facilities for the learning of English which would be likely to have the effect of inducing them to abandon those pursuits.[2] ”

Malay representatives in the Federal Council as well as the Legislative Council of Singapore responded vehemently, with one calling the British policy "a policy that trains the Malay boy how not to get employment" by excluding the Malays from learning in the "bread-earning language of Malaya". He remarked:
“ In the fewest possible words, the Malay boy is told 'You have been trained to remain at the bottom, and there you must always remain!' Why, I ask, waste so much money to attain this end when without any vernacular school, and without any special effort, the Malay boy could himself accomplish this feat?[3] ”

Eventually, to remedy this problem, the British established the Malay College Kuala Kangsar. However, it was mainly intended as a way to educate future low-level civil servants, and not as a means to opening the doors of commerce to the Malays — the school was never intended to prepare students for entrance to higher institutions of education.[4]