KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Nearly 20 per cent of Chinese secondary school students in Malaysia are enrolled in Chinese independent high schools offering the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) stream this year, according to the Education Ministry.

In a written parliamentary reply dated yesterday, the ministry said 75,144 Chinese students are studying in UEC stream schools, accounting for 19.4 per cent of the total 387,406 Chinese secondary school students nationwide.

It said 260,699 Chinese students, or 67.3 per cent, are enrolled in secondary schools under the Education Ministry, while the remaining 51,563 students, or 13.3 per cent, are studying in private education institutions.

The reply was in response to a question from Datuk Ahmad Saad @ Yahaya (PN-Pokok Sena), who asked for the percentage of Chinese students choosing the UEC education system instead of the national public school system.

The UEC was developed in 1975 by the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) to standardise Chinese-medium secondary education through a unified examination system.

Chinese independent high schools emerged after the Education Act 1961 required schools nationwide to switch their medium of instruction to English or Malay.

Schools that did not make the transition were classified as independent from 1962 onwards and were no longer eligible for government funding or a publicly recognised examination system.

While various federal administrations have acknowledged the academic standards of the UEC, its recognition for admission into public universities remains limited under the Education Act 1996.