EDUCATION SYSTEM DIFFERENCES

BEFORE AND AFTER INDEPENDENCE

By Izzati Masturah binti Madini
PISMP TESL 1
State education system differences
before and after independence, based
on the following aspects:

1. School location
2. Teacher training
3. Type of subject
4. Type of school
5. Students and teachers
School location
Before independence
Phase 1: Teachers houses
Students learnt to study al-Quran & Fardhu Ain from
teachers who were known as the scholars at their
houses.
Phase 2: Mosques, Surau & Madrasah

Existed due to the increasing number of

students.
The scholars were respected and praised by
the society & sometimes they were being
invited to teach the royalties at the palace.
Phase 3: Religious Institute
(Hut Schools)
Prior traditional religious school.
There were no standard syllabuses.
The syllabuses and the way they
teach were based on the Al Haram
Mosques curriculum.
Malay Schools
(branches of Malay Schools
Penang Free
School) (in Singapore
1856)
Gelugor Malay
School,
Penang (1826) Telok
Belanga
Malay School
Bayan Lepas
Malay School
Kampung
Gelam
Ayer Hitam School
Malay School,
Penang
DEVELOPMENT OF MALAY SCHOOLS
British colonial Government enforced the
Compulsory Education Act :
compulsory for parents to send their children
to school.
Otherwise, theyll be fined.
British appealed to the Malay leaders to
encourage parents to register their children
for schooling.
Due to good response, more Malay schools
were built.
Sayong Malay School,
Perak (1878)
CHINESE SCHOOLS

1913 :
Setting up the first Chinese
secondary school in Malaya
(Singapore)
 TAMIL SCHOOLS
Tamils were the biggest group of Indian
migrants to Malaya at that time.
Forced the plantation owners to set up Tamil
schools for their workers children.
Examples of schools :
Tamil School in Penang (1816)
Anglo-Tamil School in Malacca (1850) *exist for
only 10 years
St. Xavier Malabar School in Singapore (1859)
 English School

Penang Malacca Singapore

Free Free
Free School
School School (1834)
(1816)
(1826)
 Other English
Schools

Anglo-Tamil Convent schools

School in KL (girls) & St.
(1897) changed schools (boys)
to Methodist Boys RC missionaries
School

Anglo-Chinese Bukit Bintang

School Girls School and
(Methodist) now St. Mary
SMK Methodist (Anglican)
Ipoh
AFTER INDEPENDENCE ?
Schools are located all
over Malaysia
Teacher training
Reason &
Problems Consequences
Ways

BcG (British Colonial

Low wages - Government)
resign brought teachers Aware of importance of
from England pro development
training for teachers

Small number of Wooley Committee

female teachers (1870) being set up

Urgent need for

Lack of trained more trained and Shortage of trained
teachers highly qualified teachers in Malay schools
teachers being considered
 Telok Belanga
TTC, Singapore
(1878)
Malay Girls Taiping Malay
TTC, Malacca TTC, Perak
(1935) (1878)

Teacher
Raffles Training Malacca
College, Colleges Malay TTC,
Singapore (TTC) Malacca
(1928) (1900)

Sultan Idris
TTC, Tanjong Matang
Malim, Perak Malay TTC,
(1922) Perak (1913)
AFTER INDEPENDENCE
 Teachers should be encouraged to attend in-service
courses
Teachers should be encouraged to further their education
Opportunities should be given to teachers for study visits
overseas to study current developments in education
Induction programmes be given to teachers appointed to
new posts and with new responsibilities
Management courses be provided to those teachers who
have been promoted to head teachers.
Staff rooms should be subject-based
Teacher centres should facilitate the professional
development of teachers; they should be built in strategic
locations, equipped with modern technology, fully funded
and adequately staffed (as cited in Mohd Sofi Ali, 2002, p.
45).
1. SPM - IPG - SK

SPM school leavers who obtained excellent results (5/6 A and

above) may apply for admission to the Institut Perguruan
Malaysia (IPGM) or better known as the Maktab
Perguruan formerly.
They will be trained for 1 year preparation and 4 additional
years for the Bachelor of Education program (Ijazah Sarjana
Muda Pendidikan).
They will then serve as teachers in the Primary School (
Sekolah Rendah).
Moreover, to improve the quality of teacher education, Malaysia
Education Ministry (KPM) also provides dedicated path of
immediate interview to SPM straight A's school leavers who are
interested in becoming a teacher.
Type of subject
Before independence :
Hadith
Tauhid knowledge
Al-Quran
Fiqh
Nahu
Sufi
Tasawwuf & Akhlaq
Arab Language & Jawi
After independence
Subject:
National language
Mathematics
Science
History
Geography
English
Chinese
Tamil
Islamic education
Type of school

There were 4 types of school

during British colonization.
English-medium.
Malay-medium.
Vernacular
Chinese-medium. schools
Tamil-medium.
Malay Vernacular Schools
Students were taught with the basic of reading,
writing & arithmetic as well as academic subjects
such as Malay history & geography.
Schools were set up to ensure the younger
generations were able to provide themselves and
their future generations with living skills.
However, it garnered little response from the
Malay society because skills like reading, writing
& arithmetic were of little use to the village folk.
In addition, children were expected to carry out
duties at home or in the fields.
 Thus, the British government
implemented compulsory education in
the late 1880s and early 1890s.

Malay Chiefs were commissioned to

encourage parents to send their
children to school.

The number of students increased to

8000 in 1909.
The Malay vernacular schools provided
education only in the primary level.
The British feared that Malay community
would not maintain their status quo &
remain as farmers and fishermen.
It was enough for them that the
government administration positions were
held by Malays princes and sons of the
elite Malays who studied in English
schools.
Education for Chinese
In the hands of the Chinese community.
Teachers were imported from China.
Textbooks were written & printed in China,
comprised of the history, culture & geography of
China.
Examples of schools:
Cantonese schools, Kampong Glan, Singapore.
Hokkien school, Perkin Street.
Mandarin (kuo yu) was introduced to enable
various groups with different dialects to
communicate.
 China achieved victory in its Republican
Revolution of 1911 & began focusing their
attention on Chinese communities
overseas.
Aimed to instill the pride of being Chinese &
ensuring their loyalty.
Brought nationalistic literature to the
Chinese communities in Malaya.
The British were fearful of the increasing
politicization of Chinese schools might
disrupt their government administration in
Malaya.
Education for the Indians
Early 19th century, the missionaries ran formal Indian
education but garnered less response from the Indians.
1923, the British passed the Labour Ordinance which
stipulated that plantation owners in the Federated
Malay States were required to provide education for the
children of labourers at their own expenses.
Tamil schools existed were of poor quality due to no
guidelines or provision to enforce Indian education.
Most of the teachers were either not trained or
equipped with little training.
They were mainly comprised of Indian labour recruiters
(kangani), clerks & other estate labourers.
English-medium Schools
Schools were run by missionaries & the British
government.
Provided primary & secondary education under
the provision of the colonial government.
Examples of English schools:
Penang Free School. (1816, by Reverend R.S
Hutchings).
Malacca High School (1826).
Singapore Free School (1834).
Victoria Institution (1893).
 They were the least popular schools in the late
19th & early 20th century, especially among
Malays.
Most schools were established in the urban areas
& out of reach of the rural folk, in term of
distances & school fees.
Furthermore, the Malays felt English education
did not suit their religion & culture.
They (The Malays) were afraid that the younger
generation would be influenced by the Christian
missionaries.
 However, Malay princes & sons of
aristocratic families attended English
schools who would eventually be
employed as government clerks &
lower officials in the British
administration.
A cunning way for the British to ensure
the Sultans & aristocrats felt that they
were part of the government
administration.
After independence
Primary School Education
1. National primary schools (SK)
2. National-type primary schools
National-type primary schools
(Chinese) SJKC
National-type primary schools (Tamil)
SJKT
2. Secondary School Education
National secondary schools
National secondary schools (regular)
Technical/vocational secondary schools
MARA junior science colleges
Religious secondary school
National religious secondary school
National religious assisted secondary
school
Special education schools
3. Universities
Public universities
Private universities
Malaysian campuses of foreign
universities
Smart schools
Vision Schools
In essence the "Vision School" concept
involves putting a national school and 1-2
other vernacular schools together at the
same site to share common facilities such
as the school canteen and sports ground.
It is hoped that the close proximity between
the students of various races as well as
organised activities between the schools
will encourage greater interaction between
them and foster national unity.
Students and teachers
Students

Before independence After independence

Provide themselves and their future Ensure that everyone is equipped with
generations with living skills. the necessary knowledge, skills and
values

Less interested students More interested

Low level High level

Malay- just to become farmers To gain variety of job opportunities

Indians labourers
Chinese businessmen
 Teachers

Before independence After independence

Chinese Mostly Malaysian

Indians
English teachers China and India

Low wages of teachers High wages of teachers

Lacked of trained teachers More trained teachers

Few teacher training institutions Many training teacher institutions

THE END
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