In a written parliamentary reply, Radzi said there was an upward trend in data with the enrolment of Malay students increasing from 9.15% in 2010 to 15.33% in 2020.

Meanwhile, the enrolment of Indian students and students of other races also increased slightly from 1.67% to 2.75% and 1.02% to 1.67%, respectively, in the same period.

“However, the percentage of enrolment of Chinese students in Chinese vernacular schools showed a decrease from 88.16% in 2010 to 80.25% in 2020,” he said in answer to a question from Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PH-Setiawangsa).

For private schools, Radzi said, Chinese students make up the majority with 65.88%, followed by Malays and Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak with 26.96%, Indians with 4% and other races with 3.17%.

“The participation of Malay students (in private schools) showed an increase of 0.65% whereas Chinese students showed a 0.44% decrease and Indian students showed a 0.21% decrease compared with 2019,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese and Indian students’ enrolment in national schools dropped from 1.17% to 0.73% and 3.15% to 2.63% in the past 10 years, with Malay students’ enrolment between 93% and 94%.

For other races, their enrolment in national schools increased slightly from 2% to 2.84%.

For Tamil vernacular schools, the majority of students continued to comprise Indian students at 99%, with the participation of the other races less than 1%.