Life > Education > Primary School
Prelude: Primary School in Malaysia
There are multiple different types of primary schools. There is standard basic syllabus for all primary schools that are set by Ministry of Education (MOE), but there could be additional non-standard syllabus from multiple parties for certain types of primary school. For example, the Integrated Religious Primary School (SRAI) in Selangor combines the basic syllabus from MOE and additional religious syllabus from Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS).
Majority of primary schools stand on standalone land, either built by the developer of a neighbourhood, or built by the people who settled on the land, or donated by landlord who wanted the people in the area to get educated. However, there are some primary schools that stand together with other structure, such as mosque or church.
There are a lot of variations in the languages used in primary school. Malay and English languages as their own subjects are mandatory to be taught in all schools, Chinese and Tamil language as their own subjects are mandatory to be taught in Chinese and Tamil schools respectively. Non-Chinese/Tamil schools are also mandated to teach Chinese/Tamil languages or other native languages if there are more than 15 parents of pupils in that school requested that language. Certain school, particularly religious school, also teach Arabic language.
As for the language used to teach other subjects, Chinese and Tamil schools teach in Chinese and Tamil respectively, while other schools teach in Malay, with selected school had choice to teach certain subjects (mainly Science and Mathematics) using English. Islamic Education for Muslim is taught in Malay in all schools including those attending Chinese/Tamil school, while Bible Knowledge for Christian is taught in English in all schools that had the subject.
List of common types of primary school:
- Government-owned National School / SK (for example: Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Aman)
- Government-aided Chinese National-Type School / SJKC (for example: Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Sin Kuo Min)
- Government-aided Tamil National-Type School / SJKT (for example: Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Tun Sambanthan)
- Government-owned Special Need School (for example: Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Muar)
- State religious authority-owned Religious Primary School / SRA (for example: Sekolah Rendah Agama Sungai Limau)
- Private Malay primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Tinta)
- Private Chinese primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Sri Sutera)
- Private Tamil primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Sathya Sai)
- Private English primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Sri UCSI)
- Private non-Malay native-people primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Swasta Datuk Simon Fung)
- Private Islamic Malay primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah An-Najaah)
- Private Islamic English primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Swasta Sri Showme)
- Private Islamic Arabic primary school (for example: Ma’had atTarbiyah al-Islamiyah)
- Private Catholic primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Stella Maris)
- Private Adventist primary school (for example: Sekolah Rendah Advent Tenghilan)
- Private special need primary school (for example: Sekolah Semangat Maju Batu Gajah)
- International school (for example: Sekolah Antarabangsa Sri Emas)
- Expatriate school (for example: Sekolah Jerman Kuala Lumpur)
- School Code: KBC3061
- English Name: Chung Hwa (Chinese) National-Type School
- Malay Name: Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Chung Hwa
- Chinese Name: 中华国民型华文学校（中华学校）
- Location: Jalan Sekolah, Sungai Lalang
- Owner: Jointly owned by school board, with government aid
- Instruction Language: Chinese
My Primary School
My primary school is Chung Hwa (Chinese) National-Type School in Sungai Lalang. The school is jointly owned by the school board but they receive government aid, making it a part of the government public school system despite not owned by the government.
Just like other public schools in Malaysia, textbooks are provided as part of the Textbook Loan Scheme where you get the textbook at the beginning of the year to use for that year and you return them to the school at the end of the year. The school also do not charge fee for admission as it’s a public school, but it charge contribution fee for the Parent-Teacher Association with the amount that was agreed upon in the annual general meeting, in line with the Education (Parent-Teacher Association) Regulations 1998 that applies to all public schools.
People who live in Sungai Lalang, especially at the town centre, generally know about the school as the students also use the open field right next to the school as some sort of extension of the school for events and for Physical Education subject, despite the field was not gated and anyone can just walk through it. My parents sent me to Chinese primary school because they want me to learn the language as they see that the language would be important in the future.
Location
The primary school is located at Jalan Sekolah in Sungai Lalang. The road Jalan Sekolah (literally “school road”) was named as such as the road is where two primary schools of Sungai Lalang were located on, and the road is also one of two major roads for the neighbourhoods in Sungai Lalang, the other road being Lebuh Desa Aman. The other school on Jalan Sekolah is the Sungai Lalang National School (school code: KBA3016), a government-owned public school which uses Malay language as the medium of instruction.
Other than those two schools mentioned earlier which were located at Jalan Sekolah, there are also other public primary schools in Sungai Lalang:
- Aman Jaya National School
- School code: KBA3006
- Location: State road K152, in front of Taman Bandar Baru Sungai Lalang Muslim Cemetery
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/ijV8RcMpcijSLibRA
- Bandar Baru Sungai Lalang National School
- School code: KBA3047
- Formerly known as Bandar Baru Sungai Lalang 1 National School
- Not to be confused with Sungai Lalang National School at Jalan Sekolah
- Location: State road K152, at the side of the main road of Taman Seri Bayu Sungai Lalang
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/2uZD65PrJqXEPabm9
- Ambangan Heights National School
- School code: KBA3054
- Formerly known as Bandar Baru Sungai Lalang 2 National School
- Not to be confused with Sungai Lalang National School at Jalan Sekolah
- Location: Jalan Kenanga 1, Zon Kenanga Ambangan Heights
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/jsrpEe4kxEdRbrdt8
- Sungkap Para National School
- School code: KBA3017
- Location: Ladang Sungkap Para village
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/2sxc3MRNdaddRSoN8
- Ladang Sungkap Para (Tamil) National-Type School
- School code: KBD3083
- Name in Tamil: சுங்கப் பாரா தமிழ்ப்பள்ளி
- Location: Ladang Sungkap Para village
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/bvdxtXH47VMLhsNA9
- Tun Sambanthan (Tamil) National-Type School
- School code: KBD3085
- Name in Tamil: துன் சம்பந்தன் தமிழ்ப்பள்ளி
- Location: State road K152, in Bukit Lembu village
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/iTe9ifRavnq68h2z8
- Sungai Getah (Tamil) National-Type School
- School code: KBD3095
- Name in Tamil: சுங்கை கித்தா தமிழ்ப்பள்ளி
- Location: Ladang Sungai Getah village, right next to Zon Kenanga Ambangan Heights, accessible from state road K152
- Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/NqqAqgGoWGaadq1s8
Admission
As this primary school is a Chinese school which uses Chinese as the medium of instruction, they only accept student who already went to Chinese kindergarten beforehand and thus having basic understanding of Chinese language. I was admitted to the primary school when I was 6 years old in 2003. At there, I was introduced to a new language, English, as the language is taught as part of the national curriculum, mandatory for all schools in Malaysia, basically making English my third language after Malay and Chinese. In addition to that, I also get a new Chinese name, still Xi Daya but with different characters (喜达亚), to replace the older name from kindergarten as the new name is more standard.
Class
In those days, there were either two or three classes for each year. The two main classes were K (yellow-tagged) and M (red-tagged) classes, with occasional H (green-tagged) class if the amount of student admitted that year were higher than usual. In the early two years, the class was assigned randomly. After that, the class was assigned based on performance from previous year where students who performed well will be placed in M class, followed by K class and occasionally H class. My classes were 1K, 2K, 3M, 4M, 5M and 6M.
Subjects
The time I was admitted to primary school is also the first year of the implementation of a new programme by the MOE known as “The Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English” (PPSMI). Due to some controversies, Chinese schools teach both of the subjects of Mathematics and Science in both languages of English and Chinese, and cramped our class timetable thus doubled our homeworks.
I don’t have any digital copy of the timetables from those days, but I’m writing the subjects I learnt as far as what I could remember. Unless indicated otherwise, the subjects listed below were taught using Chinese as the medium of instruction.
The basic subjects taught in year 1 to 6:
- Malay Language (Bahasa Melayu / 国语) in Malay
- Chinese Language (Bahasa Cina / 华文)
- English Language (Bahasa Inggeris / 英文) in English
- Mathematics (Chinese) (Matematik / 数学)
- Mathematics (English) (Matematik Inggeris / M³) in English
- Science (Chinese) (Sains / 科学)
- Science (English) (Sains Inggeris / SC) in English
- Physical Education (Pendidikan Jasmani / 体育)
- Health Education (Pendidikan Kesihatan / 健康教育)
- (Muslim only) Islam Education (Pendidikan Islam / 回教教育) in Malay
- (Non-Muslim only) Moral Education (Pendidikan Moral / 道德教育)
The additional subjects taught in year 2 to 6:
- Computer Class (Kelas Komputer / 电脑班)
The specialized subjects that were specifically taught from year 4 to 6:
- Music Education (Pendidikan Muzik / 音乐教育)
- Local Study (Kajian Tempatan / 地方研究)
- Living Skills (Kemahiran Hidup / 生活技能)
- Art Education (Pendidikan Seni / 美术教育)
At the end of year 6 in 2008, I sat for the first national examination, which is called Primary School Evaluation Test (UPSR) taking 7 subjects: Malay Comprehension, Malay Writing, Chinese Comprehension, Chinese Writing, English, Mathematics, and Science. I get A for all subjects except Chinese Comprehension (C) and Chinese Writing (B). It looks like I’m better at writing something new rather than understanding existing stuff.
Co-curricular
Just like other public school, there were also mandatory co-curricular activities on the afternoon for certain days. The time is quite short as it’s primary school. There are three co-curricular divisions, namely the uniformed body, the sports and games, as well as the clubs and society.
There was only two uniformed body offered for co-curriculum in my school and I was in the Tunas KRS (少年警卫队) uniformed body. The other uniformed body was Pengakap (童子军). While I was in Tunas KRS, I learnt the basics of scouting and camping, as well as skills necessary for survival. However, I didn’t join the camping because it needs parent approval and my parents don’t approve me joining it.
I do not remember what other sports and games club existed during my time, but I was in the Chess Club (弈棋). In the chess club, we actually play many different kinds of chess which include the local draught “Dam Haji” (跳棋), the English Chess (国际象棋), the Chinese Chess (中国象棋), and shogi (将棋).
I also do not remember what other clubs and society existed during my time, but I was in the Reading Society (阅读学会). I do remember that it was harder to join it, and I was able to join it instead of the others only because I regularly borrow books from the school library and write book summaries under the Nilam Reading Programme.
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