Barnes Report - History

History

Before the end of the British rule (in 1957), the educational system in Malaya was reorganized along the lines of the Barnes Report of 1951. The British government intended a policy which would be relevant to the political and socio-economic goals of the people, Malaya's three principal ethnic communities—Malays, Chinese and Indians. The Barnes Report recommended a national school system, which would provide primary education for 6 years in Malay and English, hoping that over a period of time, the attraction to have separate schools in Chinese and Tamil would wane and disappear. The reaction of the Chinese community to the Barnes Report was not totally positive. While the community agreed with the basic recommendation that Malay be treated as the principal language, it felt that there should be some provision to recognize Chinese and Tamil as important components of a new definition of Malaya's national identity.

To pacify the ethnic sensitivities, the British government approved a modified formula that would allow bilingualism in Malay schools (Malay and English) and three language "solution" in Tamil and Chinese schools (either Tamil-Malay-English or Chinese-Malay-English), by recommending a common curriculum for all schools, hoping that a national school system would evolve.

Barnes Report was unsuccessful, and in 1955, two years before Malaya's independence, the Razak Report endorsed the concept of a national education system based on Malay (the national language), being the main medium of instruction.