History of Education

by
Hj Ahmad Zawawi bin Abdullah

HISTORYOF EDUCATION
IN MALAYSIA
FOUR STAGES

Before the coming of the British

During the British colonial government

Era before Independence

After Independence

1
BEFORE THE COMING OF
THE BRITISH

Informal education – limited to acquiring
skills for survival, like fishing and
farming for boys, and cookery and
weaving for girls

Al-Quran and Islamic Studies at the
Suraus, Mosques or Pondok Schools

DURING BRITISH COLONIZATION

No clear policy on education

Four types of vernacular schools – English-Medium,
Malay-Medium, Chinese-Medium, and Tamil-Medium

English-medium schools were run by missionaries
and the British government

The oldest school in Malaysia is the Penang Free
School (1816). Next Malacca High School (1826),
Singapore Free School (1834), and Victoria
Institution (1893)

Most in the urban areas

2
MALAY-MEDIUM SCHOOL

Malay vernacular schools – Malay as a

medium of instruction

Emphasis on 3 Rs – Reading, Writing, and
aRithmetic

Focus on Living Skills, e.g. vegetable
gardening, poultry farming, basket making
and handicrafts

To the Malays the Pondok Schools still form a
very important means of education

NUMBER OF MALAY SCHOOLS

NUMBER OF MALAY SCHOOLS IN THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS,

FEDERATED MALAY STATES AND UNFEDERATED
MALAY STATES IN 1916

States Nos. of Schools Enrolment Attendance

The Straits Settlements 191 12,934 11,034
The Federated Malay States 365 18,034 14,535
The Unfederated Malay States 137 7,923 6,940
TOTAL 693 38,891 32,509

(Source: Malaysian Development Experiance, Changes and Challenges,

INTAN, Kuala Lumpur, 1994)

3
 CHINESE-MEDIUM SCHOOLS

Mostly run by the Chinese community

Chinese is the medium of instruction

The School Registration Enactment was
passed in 1919 to control political
activities in the school

DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Education was used as a tool for propaganda to

inculcate loyalty to the Japanese emperor

The Japanese language, Nippon-Go, become the
official medium of instruction for all subjects in
schools, be they Malay, Chinese, or Tamil schools

The English and Mandarin languages were banned in
schools

Secondary schools were used as army operation
centres and school hostels as detention camps

It is compulsory for students to sing the Japanese
national song every morning

4
BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1949 THE HOLGATE REPORT

A standardized educational system

English as the only medium of
instruction in all schools

The Federal Legislative Council rejected
the proposal

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1951 THE BARNES REPORT

All primary vernacular schools maintain
one single standard national schools

Use the same syllabus

Bilingual languages, Malay and English

Secondary schools was to maintained
English as medium of instruction

5
BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1952 THE FENN- WU REPORT

Support one national educational
system

Maintained the Chinese-medium
schools

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1952 THE EDUCATIONAL ORDINANCE

Based on the Barnes Report

No support from the Chinese and
Indians

Not fully implemented

6
BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1956 THE RAZAK REPORT

The Education system should compromise of
two types of primary schools – standard
primary schools – Malay as a medium of
instruction, and standard-type primary
schools – Kuo-Yu or Tamil or English as the
medium of instructions

Use common syllabus

Malay as a compulsory subject

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

1956 THE RAZAK REPORT

All National Secondary Schools should use a
common syllabus and examination

And enforce Malay and English as
compulsory subjects

All teachers should be trained with a common
syllabus in teacher’s training colleges

7
 AFTER INDEPENDENCE

1961 THE RAHMAN TALIB REPORT

Emphasize the use of Malay as the
medium of instruction

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

THE EDUCATION ACT 1961

1961 the Parliament passed the
Education Act based on the Razak
Report and the Rahman Talib Report

After the Education Act was passed, the
National Education System was
implemented

8
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

1957 – Malay was made compulsory in all

government-aided primary and secondary
schools

1958 – Introduction of Malay-medium classes
attached to selected English-medium
secondary schools

1963 – First Malay-medium fully-residential
secondary, SMK Alam Shah

1968 – First batch of Malay-medium students
graduated from UM

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

1968 – Malay-medium classes introduced at

secondary vocational schools

1968 – Conversion from English to Malay as the
medium of instruction for Standard I to III in national-
type (English) primary schools

1973 – All subjects in the Arts stream, Form 1, in
national-type secondary schools were taught in
Malay

1975 – The conversion programme from English to
Malay as a medium of instruction in all national-type
(English) primary schools was completed

9
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

1980 – University first-year Arts courses were

conducted in Malay

1982 – Conversion program from English to
Malay as the medium in national-type
(English) secondary schools was completed

1983 – All university courses in arts, science,
engineering, medicine and etc. were
conducted in Malay

1989 – The National Philosophy of Education
was released

THE NATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

OF EDUCATION

"Education in Malaysia is an on-going efforts towards
further developing the potential of individuals in a
holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce
individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally
and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm
belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is
designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are
knowledgeable and competent, who possess high
moral standards and who are responsible and capable
of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as
being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment
of the family, the society and the nation at large"

10