CHAPTER 1 1.0 Introduction - DSpace@UM - University of Malaya

(i) to promote a national school system by the gradual introduction of
bilingualism in Malay vernacular schools and trilingualism in Chinese and
Tamil vernacular schools through the introduction of national language
classes.
(ii) to maintain the existing English medium to national-type schools.
(iii) to develop vocational secondary schools.
The Federation of Malaya had its first elected government on 31 August 1957. To
fulfill the election pledge on reviewing the education policy, a special committee
under the chairmanship of Datuk Razak Hussein (first Education Minister) was set up
to:
(i) to examine the present education policy of Federated Malaya and to
recommend any alterations or adaptations necessary to establish national
education system.
(ii) to examine the educational structure of the country including provisions for
the educational Ordinance, 1952. The education committee 1956 commonly
known as Razak report, made a total of 17 recommendations and the main
objective was to establish a national system of education for all using the
national language as the main medium of instruction.
(iii) The principles and proposals of the report were duly enacted as the education
Ordinance 1957 that laid the foundations for the National Education Policy.
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