Education in Malaysia is overseen by the Ministry of Education (MoE) or Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia. Although education is mainly the responsibility of Federal Government, each state and federal territory has an Education Department to coordinate educational matters in its territory. The main legislation governing education is the Education Act 1996.
The education system in Malaysia is divided into five stages namely:
- Preschool
- Primary
- Secondary
- Post-Secondary
- Tertiary
It is further divided into national and private education. Education may be obtained from the multilingual national school system, which provides free education for all Malaysians or private schools or through homeschooling.
International and private institutions charge school fees. By law, primary education is compulsory. Secondary education is expected to be compulsory. Standardised tests are a common feature as in many Asia Pacific countries such as the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Japan. Currently, there are 41 universities, 31 private university colleges, 9 foreign university branch campuses and 414 private colleges in Malaysia.
