KUALA LUMPUR, August 1 — If you have ever wondered how much Malaysia's Chinese-language primary schools (popularly known as SJKCs) get from the government, we have the numbers here for you! (Spoiler: It is in millions of ringgit, every year.)

1. Pop quiz: How many SJKCs are in Malaysia now?

As of July 2024, there are a total of 1,303 SJKCs (where Chinese is the main language for teaching and learning) nationwide.

This is based on the Education Ministry’s data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) website.

Bonus info: In contrast, there are a total of 528 SJKTs (where the main language for teaching and learning is Tamil) and 5,846 Sekolah Kebangsaan or SKs (national language is main language for teaching).

Of that number, 95.4 per cent of SKs are government schools or fully-funded by the government, while around 68 per cent each for SJKCs and SJKTs are government-aided schools, which means partial government funding.

Altogether, Malaysia has 7,776 primary schools with a total population of 2,992,511 students.

2. So how much has the government spent on SJKCs?

The latest detailed data we have is based on a December 14, 2023 written reply by the Education Ministry in the Dewan Negara, which breaks down the maintenance funds given to both fully-funded and partially-funded SJKCs.

This included mention of the ministry's additional and special allocation of RM29.82 million in 2023 for small upgrading and maintenance works including for toilets for 417 fully-funded SJKCs.

As a whole, this means the government gave a total of RM92.51 million for fully-funded and partially-funded SJKCs in 2023.

3. How do the numbers compare between SKs and SJKCs/SJKTs?

The bulk of the government’s school maintenance fund spending tends to go to national schools, or SKs for short. SKs currently make up 75 per cent of the total number of primary schools under the Education Ministry.

But the Education Ministry's March 7, 2024 written parliamentary reply to Gopeng MP Tan Kar Hing’s request for information showed how much more exactly the difference is between SKs compared to the SJKCs and SJKTs (which both have a smaller total number of schools).

For example, last year SKs were allocated RM315.99 million (to benefit 3,418 government schools) and RM13.2 million (for 216 government-aided schools), while SJKCs were allocated RM14.99 million (for 186 government schools) and RM47.7 million (for 816 government-aided schools).

SJKTs were allocated RM6.09 million (for 90 government schools) and RM19.48 million (for 277 government-aided schools).

As for this year, the Education Ministry said it had been given RM900 million for maintenance funds and that the plan was to distribute an estimated RM314.26 million for all types of government schools (8,270 schools) and RM95.95 million for all types of government-aided schools (1,919 schools).

These figures would include secondary schools.

According to the ministry, the allocation is "needs-based” and based on applications made by schools, and also said it would ensure fair distribution to all types of schools.