Evolution of Malaysian Education Policy
During the British Colonialism, the government at that time identified a need to establish a systematic school system that would create a quality education for all races in the country. However it was made in the sense of satisfying the British interest not to the nation as a whole. In 1950, Barnes Committee headed by L.J.Barnes (Oxford University) was established to make a study upon meeting such requirement.
Barnes Report was available in 1951 that highlighted the following recommendation. All Malay and English school would be preserved and should be given priority. Vernacular school would be closed and replaced by the National School. English would be the medium of instruction at the secondary level. Free education was guaranteed at the National School. The Chinese and the Indian felt dissatisfaction about such recommendation and voiced out that their system of education should also be emphasized.
Fenn-Wuu Committee was then established to revise the education problem for the Chinese community. The committee recommended that the Malay, Chinese and Indian languages should simultaneously be a medium of instruction in the school system and therefore all schoolbooks should apply those languages. However, the government objected such proposal. In this case, the British administration had shown strong enforcement to implement its own education policy according to their interest not according to the nation’s interest.
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