Fee-sible to study in Johor
‘Parents have a wide range of options to choose from’
For some schoolchildren in Johor, waking up in the wee hours to catch their school van and then crossing the Causeway before the break of dawn, only to repeat this day after day, is routine. But this may soon be a thing of the past due to several deterring factors – the island republic is increasing school fees for foreigners and permanent residents again and the state now has more than enough schools for private and international education to cater for local demand.
JOHOR BARU: Johor has stepped up in accommodating the demand for private or international education in the state and there is no need for Malaysian children to cross into Singapore daily for the purpose.
State Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ayub Rahmat said while parents were free to enrol their children in the school of their choice, it was not necessary for them to cross the border for it.
“Johor has more than enough public, private or international schools that offer quality education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
“We have a total of 16 international schools offering primary and secondary education throughout the state, most of which are located in the Iskandar Malaysia region,” he said in an interview.
Parents, he said, can pick from a wide range of international syllabus options for their children.
“After the primary and secondary levels, students can opt to pursue their tertiary education at one of the nine top-notched institutions at EduCity, located in the heart of Iskandar Malaysia,” he said.
The thriving education hub offers a wide range of courses in various fields, from medicine to information, communication and technology, he added.
Among the learning institutions are University of Reading Malaysia, Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Netherlands Maritime Institute of Technology, Raffles University Iskandar and University of Southampton Malaysia Campus.
Others are Marlborough College Malaysia, Management Development Institute of Singapore, Multimedia University and Raffles American School.
Austin Heights Education Sdn Bhd development director Chong Khai Siang said the
number of students going to Secondary 31.16 Singapore to study has Pre-university 42.06 declined, mainly because of the unfavourable currency factor.
He said the weak ringgit made it less affordable for parents to send their children to attend school in the republic as the education levy for foreign students are revised once every two years.
“Another one of the parents’ concerns is that their children tend to seek employment in Singapore and live there after finishing their studies,” he said.
Chong said about 65% of the students were locals (out of the some 970 students) enrolled at Austin Heights Private and International School, Mount Austin, here – the largest international school in town.
“We also have a small number of Singaporeans who study at our school as they could not enrol in international schools on the island,” he said, adding that the school has students of 27 nationalities.
He said the international school offered full-fledged preschool syllabus to secondary school International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) curriculum recognised by the University of Cambridge.
Johor has more than enough public, private or international schools that offer quality education. Datuk Ayub Rahmat