International schools in Malaysia, using the curriculum and languages of foreign countries and catering mostly for the growing population of expatriates, most certainly have a shorter history than Chinese independent high school ( 华文独立中学), a type of private high school in Malaysia providing secondary education in Mandarin. There are 60 Chinese independent high schools altogether including 23 from Sabah and Sarawak and this number represent just a small number of high schools in Malaysia. A recent phenomenon that occurs especially in bigger towns in Peninsular Malaysia is that more Chinese are flocking to the school even though they have to endure fierce competition and gruelling entrance examinations. It is said that this is due to the schools' emphasis on strict and quality education. Besides, the students could sit for both the overseas-recognised Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), and the locally-recognised SPM examination. The UEC is organized by the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM 马来西亚华校董事联合会总会), also known as the Dong Jiao Zong (董教总 ). The latter also coordinates the curriculum but the 60 schools are independent of each other and are free to manage their own affairs, something very similar perhaps to schools in Finland which boasts one of the best education in the world ...Forget the Chinese Independent School Phenomenon and have a first hand look at the Finland phenomenon...
Comments