Malaysia’s Seven Types of Schools

There are hundreds, if not thousand of schools in this world. In Malaysia, we have seven types of schools. They are Malay schools, Tamil schools, Chinese schools, international schools, private schools, and religious schools. There is only one type of Malay schools and they are the Malay government schools. Malay schools are the most common types of schools in Malaysia. You can find at least one Malay school in a town. Malay schools are divided into two. They are the Malay primary schools and the Malay secondary schools.

Malaysians start their primary school education at the age of seven. They will then be in standard 1 and they will stay until they are in standard 6, which is until they are 12 years old. The following year they will go to form 1 in the secondary school and they will continue studying there until they finish form 5 so that they can go to either college or start work immediately or they can continue to form 6 so that they can go to university immediately thereafter.

Every student has to sit for the UPSR examination when they are in standard 6, the PMR examination when they are in form 3, the SPM examination when they are in form 5, and the STPM examination when they are in form 6. All the lessons in the primary and secondary schools are, with the exception of the English lesson, are conducted in Malay. There is only one type of Tamil school in Malaysia and they are the government ones. Tamil schools are very much like the Malay schools with the exception that all lessons except English and Malay are in Tamil.

Their syllabus is a lot like the syllabus of the Malay schools. The only difference is that they have to enter a Malay school when they go to form one. They normally spend a year in a special class after they finish the UPSR examination so that they can cope with the high standard of Malay in the Malay school they will be going to. Then they will they will continue studying at the school like any other student. Chinese schools are very much like Tamil schools. All their lessons except English and Malay are in Chinese. Their syllabus is a lot like the syllabus of the Malay schools.

However, they can choose to continue their education in a Chinese secondary school after they finish their UPSR examination or they can choose to go to a special class after the examination and then continue their education in a Malay secondary school. There are two types of international schools, the private ones that follow the British syllabus, and the government ones that follow the Malaysian syllabus. The private international schools can be mainly found in Kuala Lumpur whereas the government ones can be found in almost every state capital.

An example of a private international school is the Alice Smith International School in Kuala Lumpur and an example of government international schools is the Sri Utama International School. Private schools are run totally by the school board without any help from the government at all. If they have any problems, they have to overcome it themselves. They get no funding from the government so they have to get money by whatever means they can. That is why the school fees are very expensive. Their syllabus is basically like the normal syllabus of the government schools. Las,t but definitely not least, is the Islamic religious schools.

Islamic students go there to learn about their religion and to learn how to speak and write Jawi. They normally study there for six years, but those who are really interested can go to a secondary school that teaches mainly Islam. There they will also learn all the other subjects that normal students do. We should be happy that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to a school to have an education. There are hundreds if not thousands of children out there who do not have the opportunity to go to school. So my friends do not waste this opportunity. Use it while you can.