Types of School Fees

Essential Information INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN MALAYSIA: LATEST FIGURES

This article provides some updated statistics on the number of international schools in Malaysia.

As of 10 May 2021, there are currently 182 international schools in Malaysia**. This is a 6% increase from the 171 international schools recorded in 10 February 2020. A year before that, there were 151 international schools in the country. This indicates that 31 international schools have opened in the last two years.

The increase in the number of schools is significant compared to the figures in 2009. There were a total of 51 international schools in Malaysia at that time*. This reflects a whopping 257% increase in the number of schools over the past decade. The number of schools started to catapult when the quota of local students in international schools was lifted in 2012. The number of schools increased by 30 (58%) in 2012 with 81 established international schools.

Back to 2021, a large number of international schools (62%) in the country are concentrated in the Klang Valley. Out of the 13 states in Malaysia, Perlis is the only state that does not have any international schools. Selangor is the state with the largest number of international schools with 79 in total, ten schools more compared to the year 2020. Three new schools have opened in the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur, bringing the total to 30 international schools. There are three international schools located in Putrajaya.

Penang and Johor are also popular hubs for international education. There are 20 schools in Johor and 12 in Penang. There has been no change in the number of international schools in many states since last year. Perak has nine schools while Negeri Sembilan has six. Kedah, Pahang and Melaka each have four international schools. Kelantan and Terengganu have two schools each.

In East Malaysia, Sarawak has six international schools while Sabah has four. Only one international school is located in the federal territory of Labuan.

Overall, the international school market in Malaysia has experienced some growth since last year despite the ongoing pandemic. The number of international schools is predicted to increase slightly in 2022 when the economy recovers from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.