Chinese Independent High School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chinese Independent High Schools (Traditional Chinese: 華文獨立中學 Simplified Chinese: 华文独立中学) are a type of private high school in Malaysia. These schools have been built by the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia since the 19th century. Even so, the school was set up with the main intention to provide subsidized education to students irrespective of their race, religion, country and creed.
There are a total of 60 in the country and they represent only a small number of schools in Malaysia. All Chinese Independent High Schools are maintained throughout the student fees and donations from the public.
[edit] History
After independence, the government instructed all schools to surrender their property and be assimilated into the normal school system. This caused an uproar among the Chinese and a compromise was achieved with the government that the schools would become National Type Schools. In these schools, the government is only in charge of the teaching personnel, while the land belongs to the school privately. This was still viewed with scepticism among the Chinese. This caused a domino effect among the other Chinese High Schools, with over sixty schools converting to National Type Schools. The schools that converted included famous schools like Chung Ling High School, Penang Chinese Girls' High School in Penang Island, Jit Sin High School on the mainland, and Ave Maria High School, Sam Tet High School in Ipoh. Teaching and learning of Mandarin was often compulsory in these schools, with most schools dedicating at least one seventh to one fifth of their teaching time per week to Mandarin studies.
A minority of Chinese schools refused the proposal and became private high schools, and these are known as Chinese independent high schools. During 1960s and 70s, there was a revival of Chinese schools. Many of the national-type high schools reopened their independent high school branch. Currently there are 60 independent Chinese high schools in Malaysia, including the largest secondary school in the country, Foon Yew High School, which has over 7000 students. Besides, Foon Yew High School was also the first school which refused the government's proposal.Also,Foon Yew High School is also the first high school to have a branch,the branch is located in Kulai
Whereas National Type schools are supported and funded by the Malaysian government, independent Chinese secondary schools are supported through student fees and donations from the public.
[edit] Assessment
Students in Chinese Independent High Schools take a standardised test known as the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), which is restricted to the 60 Chinese independent secondary schools in Malaysia. Some students in these schools take Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations as private candidates. UEC has been run by the Dong Jiao Zhong (the association of Chinese school teachers and trustees) since 1975. It is recognised as the entrance qualification in many tertiary educational institutions in the United Kingdom, United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and many others. It is not recognised by the government of Malaysia for entry into public universities, but most private colleges recognise it. In May 2004 the National Accreditation Board (LAN) required students entering local private colleges using any qualification other than the SPM to pass the SPM Malay paper. This drew protests and the then Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie Salleh exempted UEC students from this requirement.
The UEC is available in three levels: Vocational Unified Exam (UEC-V), UEC Junior Middle Level (UEC-JML) and Senior Middle Level (UEC-SML). The syllabus and examinations for the UEC-V and UEC-JML are only available in the Chinese language. The UEC-SML has questions for mathematics, sciences (biology, chemistry and physics), bookkeeping, accounting and commerce in both Chinese and English.
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 Dr Mahathir Mohamad, then the education minister and later the prime minister, 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'."
