Chinese independent high school: Difference between revisions

{{UnreferencedMore citations needed|date=MarchOctober 20172021}}

Chinese independent high schools represent a small number of high schools in Malaysia. The number of Chinese independent high schools differed among sources, ranging from 60 to 63, due to the ambiguous status of SM Chong Hwa Kuantan and whether branch campuses count as separate schools. In 2020, UCSCAM adopted the "60+2+1" formula in describing the number of Chinese independent high schools:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sinchew.com.my/20200302/%E8%91%A3%E6%80%BB%EF%BC%9A%E4%BB%A5%E7%8B%AC%E4%B8%AD%E5%88%86%E6%A0%A1%E5%8F%8A%E5%85%81%E8%80%83%E7%BB%9F%E8%80%83%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%A6%E5%8C%BA%E5%88%86%EF%BC%8E6021%E7%8B%AC/ |title=董总：以独中分校及允考统考中学区分·“60"60+2+1”1"独中新定位 |trans-title=Dong Zong: Differentiating schools by branch campuses and school allowed to participate in UEC - new position for "60+1+2" independent high schools |date=2 March 2020|website=Sinchew.com.my |publisher=[[Sin Chew Daily]] |access-date=2 October 2021 |langlanguage=zh}}</ref>

After Malaya's independence in 1957, the government instructed all schools to surrender their properties and be assimilated into the National School system. This caused an uproar among the Chinese and a compromise was achieved in that the schools would instead become "National Type" schools. Under such a system, the government is only in charge of the school curriculum and teaching personnel while the lands still belonged to the schools. While Chinese primary schools were allowed to retain Chinese as the medium of instruction, Chinese secondary schools are required to change into English-medium schools. Over 60 schools converted to become National Type schools, including famous schools like [[Chung Ling High School]], [[Penang Chinese Girls' High School]] on Penang Island, [[Jit Sin High School]], andin [[Seberang Perai]] part of Penang as well as Ave Maria Convent High School]], and [[SMJK Sam Tet|Sam Tet High School]] in [[Ipoh]], [[Perak]]. While the medium language for most subjects is switched to English as according to the proposal, the teaching and learning of Mandarin remained compulsory in these schools, with most of them dedicating at least one seventh to one fifth of their teaching time per week to Mandarin studies.

This plan was still viewed as an unacceptable compromise amongst some Chinese, and a minority of the Chinese schools refused the proposal and became private high schools or Chinese independent high schools as they were later called. This concept slowly gained popularity and, during the 1960s and 70s, many of the National Type high schools reopened their independent high school branch. Their numbers continued to grow until a period when the political situation in Malaysia made it impossible to set up additional independent Chinese high schools. Currently there are 60 independent Chinese high schools in Malaysia, including [[Foon Yew High School]], which is the largest secondary school in the country with over 1000010,000 students. Foon Yew High School was the first school to refuse the government's proposal, as well as the first high school to have 2two branch campuscampuses (located in Kulai and Bandar Seri Alam). The second largest is [[Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur]], which is known for its excellent academic performance as well as award-winning performance in inter-school competitions.

In the end, six high schools out of the 18 refused to convert to teaching in English; they were the Chung Hua Middle School No.1, Chung Hua Middle School No.3, Chung Hua Middle School No.4, Guong Ming Middle School, Kiang Hin Middle School and Kai Dee Middle School. The rest of the school which converted into English medium schools ended up as "Sekolah Kebangsaan" after Sarawak joined Malaysia. In 19831973, these English medium schools were once again converted into using Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of teaching.

In Sabah, all of the nine Chinese independent high schools in the state were formed in between 1960 and 19691968.

BecauseAs the UEC is not recognised by the Malaysian government, some Chinese independent high schools opt to teach the national secondary school curriculum (in Malay) alongside the independent school curriculum (in Chinese) and require students to sit for the government standardised tests ([[Penilaian Menengah Rendah|PMR]]PT3, [[Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia|SPM]] or even [[Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia|STPM]]) as private school candidates, providing the students an opportunity to obtain government-recognised certificates.

Chinese educationalist Dr Kua Kia Soong mentions the introduction of the UEC in his book ''Protean Saga: The Chinese Schools of Malaysia''. According to the book, the introduction of the UEC led to [[Mahathir Mohamad|Dr Mahathir Mohamad]], the then Minister of Education and later the Prime Minister of Malaysia, summoning the Chinese educationalists to parliament. To quote the book, "The latter (Mahathir) did not mince his words but told the Dong Jiao Zong leaders that UEC had better not be held or else ... He did not ask for any response and dismissed the Chinese educationalists with a curt ... 'that is all'."