KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia cannot be left behind in education, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in defending the policy decision to allow parents to enrol their children in Year One at age 6.

He said that the 2027 Budget will allocate RM800 million to bear the costs related to advancing the schooling age, which would cover the recruitment of 18,000 teachers.

“According to Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), 137 countries have implemented school enrolment at age 6. Which means over 71 per cent of countries are practising this. We cannot be left behind. If we delay it by another year, our children will lose a year,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said that the government was committed to increasing the facilities in primary and secondary schools, vocational colleges, matriculation colleges and the Teachers’ Education Institute.

Anwar was speaking in response to a supplementary question from Datuk Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PN–Rantau Panjang), who wanted to know the extent of the national education system’s readiness to admit 6-year-old pupils into Year One.

A total of 10,514 preschool classrooms across 6,469 institutions were expanded, with an additional 150 classrooms added in 2025 and 350 new preschool classrooms planned for 2026, Anwar said.

The total capacity of government preschools stands at 110,889 places.

These include facilities under the Community Development Department (Kemas), the National Unity and Integration Department (JPNIN), and the Education Ministry.

Putrajaya was also making efforts to ensure the nation has enough teachers.

“For this year, an additional RM800 million is being discussed with the Finance Ministry to meet the needs of 18,000 newly-recruited teachers.

“That is why in this year’s budget, an additional RM800 million will be tabled to meet immediate needs, and the Education Ministry as well as the Finance and Economy ministries have already taken the necessary steps to expedite the implementation of these measures,” he said.

Although he admitted that the implementation may not be perfect, Anwar was firm in saying Malaysia must begin the introduction of entering Year One at age 6.

“We must not use archaic thinking. We may feel it cannot be done, but our children are far more capable,” he said.

He added that parents were also being given ample time to enrol their children for Year One to ease the process.

“That is why we are starting (the enrolment) this month, and we expect that in about two months after Hari Raya, the enrollment will increase.

We are also allowing an additional one to two months for children to consider and register, so that the process is not overly burdensome, especially for young children.

“Parents are being given sufficient time to send and enrol their children.”

Last week, Anwar launched the National Education Plan 2026–2035, which introduced a policy allowing parents to enrol their children in school at the age of 6, a year earlier than the current entry age of 6.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/01/1365492/malaysia-cant-afford-lag-behind-education-says-pm-watch