Malaysia to create nearly 2,600 new school classrooms by 2027 to implement new primary school admission policy

The Malaysian Ministry of Education will create 2,596 new classrooms in 838 schools to prepare the education system for an increase in the number of Year 1 pupils following the introduction of a new policy allowing the simultaneous admission of children from two age groups in 2027. This was reported by Astro AWANI, a partner of TV BRICS.

To date, 478,469 applications have been registered for entry into Year 1 in 2027. Of these, 405,003 applications are for seven-year-olds and 73,386 for six-year-olds. Consequently, the total number of future Year 1 pupils will increase by 12.07 per cent compared with the 2026 intake, which consisted solely of seven-year-olds.

According to Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh, the creation of additional classes is only part of the preparations for the reform. The authorities are also expanding the capacity of existing schools by reconfiguring premises, introducing two-shift teaching and, where necessary, distributing pupils among neighbouring schools.

Furthermore, the ministry is taking other aspects into account: it is training teachers and addressing staffing, financial and organisational issues to ensure the smooth implementation of the new policy. All work is scheduled to be completed this year.