Comparison of the Malaysian and English education systems

At a glance, Malaysia and England looked as though they share many similar government policies, especially in politics and education. This observation is mainly due to the fact that the British used to occupy Malaysia and brought many of the British cultures into the country, which was known as British Malay back then. When gaining its independence in 1957, the new Malaysian government under its first Prime Minister was given the control of ruling the country without any interference from outsiders. Understandably, the new independent government decided to keep the education system that British has started and focused more on implementing new policies on politics within the Parliament. It was not until the 1970s that the government decided to start reconstructing the education system left by the British in order to form its own identity as an independent country1. However, the reconstruction did not occur on its own as it was triggered by a nationwide racial riot in 1969. The riot sent one loud and bold message to the government; that the Malays as the indigenous population wanted to close the gap of rural-urban residential prominence of certain ethnic groups because they were at a disadvantage, while the Chinese and Indians who were brought into the country during the British occupation as immigrants, wanted equal opportunities in both politics and education without any barriers of inter-ethnic interactions2. The demand from the Chinese and Indians was met successfully and Malaysia is now known as a multi-cultural society and the three major races (Malay, Chinese and Indian) have been living peacefully amidst the diversity in languages, cultures and religions2.

For both Malaysia and England, the compulsory educat...

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...ecide which one is better than the other. Instead, this study should be used as a guideline on how to improve one another’s education system by taking the best out of both systems and use them to suit each country’s own context and aims. In other words, this should be seen as an opportunity to help and assist our pupils toward being a better society in terms of global dimension and social justice.

Works Cited

1) M. N. N. Lee; School Effectiveness and School Improvement; 10; 86 (1999).

2) S.

7) D. Wyse, H. Torrance; Educational Research; 51; 213 (2009). R. Raman, T.Y.Sua; Paedagogica Historica; 46; 117 (2010).

3) “English Education System”; Royal Geographical Society.

4) Curriculum Standards and Guidance, Department of Education.

5) S. Warren; Race, Ethnicity and Education; 10; 367 (2007).

6) S. Md. Nor; The International Journal of Learning; 16; (2009).