Nearly 50% increase in Bumi students in int’l schools over past 5 years

 

There were as many as 287 international schools in the country in 2020. (Freepik pic)

PETALING JAYA: Bumiputera student enrolment in international schools increased by 49.4% from 2019 to 2024, says education minister Fadhlina Sidek.

In a parliamentary written reply, she also said that non-Bumiputera student enrolment in international schools saw a 30.6% hike over the same period.

“Overall, the enrolment of Malaysian students in international schools has increased by 34% from 2019 to 2024,” she said.

As of May 31, there were a total of 88,951 students in international schools, with 59,726 (67.1%) being Malaysian citizens and 29,225 (32.9%) non-citizens. Among Malaysians citizens, 19.9% are Bumiputera and 80.1% are non-Bumiputera.

There were as many as 287 international schools in the country in 2020, according to research conducted by International Consultancy Group (ISC), a UK-based company studying the global international school industry for more than 25 years.

Fadhlina was responding to a question from Chow Yu Hui (PH-Raub) about the number and percentage of students studying in government and international schools based on their ethnicity from 2004 to 2024.

Fadhlina said that over the past 10 years, national schools (SK) have seen an increase in Bumiputera student enrolment from 93.81% in 2014 to 95.12% in 2024, while non-Bumiputera students have decreased from 6.19% in 2014 to 4.88% in 2024.

For Chinese national-type schools (SJKC), there has been an increase in Bumiputera students from 11.67% in 2014 to 18.52% in 2024, while the enrolment of non-Bumiputera students in SJKC schools decreased from 88.33% in 2014 to 81.48% in 2024.

In Tamil national-type schools (SJKT), Bumiputera student enrolment increased from 0.38% in 2014 to 0.49% in 2024. - FMT