The Critical Issues of Malaysian Education System

Education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries, The Ministry of Education (Kementerian Pelajaran in Malay) which handles matters pertaining to pre-school, primary school, secondary school and post-secondary school. Matters regarding tertiary education are dealt with by the Ministry of Higher Education (Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi in Malay) which formed at year 2004 with the intention to provide a better supervision on tertiary education issues. Each state has an Education Department to coordinate educational matters in its territory despite the fact that education is the responsibility of federal government. The main legislation governing education is the Education Act of 1996. Before the introduction of the matriculation system, students aiming to enter public universities are required to finish an additional 18 months of secondary schooling in Form Six and sit the Malaysian Higher School Certificate (Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia, STPM); equivalent to the British Advanced or 'A' levels. Since the introduction of the matriculation program as an alternative to STPM in 1999, students who completed the 12-month program in matriculation colleges (Kolej Matrikulasi in Malay) can enroll in local universities. However, in the matriculation system, only 10% of the places are open to Non-Bumiputra(Chinese & Indian) students. Excellence in these examinations does not guarantee a place in a public university. Most of the selection criteria are not publicized or vague as no strictly enforced defined guidelines exist. This situation had created many disputes between the government and the parents of Non-Bumiputra students. Although the government announced a reduction of reliance of racial quotas in 2002, things hasn’t been changed much. The classification of tertiary education in Malaysia is organized upon the Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) which seeks to set up a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis