Part 1: More parents are choosing international education in Malaysia
An increasing number of parents are choosing international schools for their kids.
Finding the best school for kids in Malaysia can be daunting, given that there are hundreds of options to choose from.
This country offers five different schooling systems namely public, religious, home, private and international, with each system boasting a long list of schools.
There is a striking increase in the number of international schools in Malaysia and one of the reasons for this is because more and more parents are choosing them for their children.
Expatriate parents give their reasons
Expatriate children are not accepted in public schools. However, between private and international schools, the latter is the preferred choice for expatriate families due to its curriculum, shares Abhijit Jain, a software engineer from India.
“When relocating to Malaysia, my main concern was the impact on my son’s education, how he will cope in case we need to move back to India while he is still in school.” His son is now a student at an international school that follows the Indian curriculum.
Melanie Poupart, another parent from France, concurs.
“We want our kids to be able to speak and read in French as well as English. As we live far away from our country, we want our kids to at least be able to learn about our culture.” She found a French school, where she currently sends her kids to.
“For us to be able to find a French curriculum school for our children in a distant country is a real advantage,” she exclaims.
There are also expatriates like Lizzie Hudson living in Malaysia who do not exactly have a “home” country.
“My husband and I are from two different places and both have us have been overseas for decades” she explains.
“I did my undergraduate studies in England, got my teaching licence from the US and pursued my master’s in Hong Kong. Similarly, we never envisioned one single country for our children.”
“We are more interested in a curriculum that isn’t tied to one particular country and hence chose International Baccalaureate (IB) because it is a dynamic program that is holistic in nature and is inquiry based.”
With a wide range of international curricula such as Australian, American, British, Singaporean, Canadian and Indian, offered by around 150 international schools, at least finding a fitting school is not difficult for expatriate parents in Malaysia.
Another reason they choose international schools is the diverse culture their children get exposed to. It was one of the biggest concerns for Janelle Schmidt because her children are adopted from Ethiopia and she was worried how they would fit in socially.
“One of my criteria was to find an international school where they have caps on percentages of each nationality so there is no one dominant nationality, which is not possible with a private school.”
She researched extensively and found a school that perfectly suited her needs while also providing a conducive learning environment for her children.
“Because there is a small community-like feel here, I felt my children will be very well taken care of. The staff members truly care, and parents are very involved too.”
The school her kids currently attend not only ticks all the boxes for her but does more.
“The school follows the PYP/MYP/IB program which is an excellent education in academics and in instilling life skills such as developing my children into thinkers, problem solvers, global citizens, principled and reflective students,” she adds.
Keep an eye for part two of this article out shortly.
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schooladvisor.my provides information on private and international schools, extra-curricular activities as well as other education-related topics in Malaysia.