The Education Ministry has announced that teaching and learning hours for mathematics in Malaysian primary schools will rise from 576 to 608 hours over the next six years, in preparation for the 2027 school curriculum.
Under the new plan, Level 1 (Year 1 and 2) students will have 3.5 hours of math lessons per week, while Levels 2 (Year 3 and 4) and 3 (Year 5 and 6) will have three hours weekly. This represents an extra 32 hours over the six-year period.
“The additional hours will provide students with more opportunities to grasp mathematical concepts thoroughly and apply them in everyday life,” the ministry said in a written parliamentary reply to Rafizi Ramli (PH-Pandan). “It also allows teachers to give targeted attention and support to pupils who may need extra help.”
Rafizi had requested the ministry’s short-, medium-, and long-term strategies to increase primary school math hours to at least 1,000 hours over six years. Currently, Malaysia’s 576 hours places it among the lowest in Southeast Asia, according to the 2024 Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) report.
Education experts have previously cautioned that limited mathematics teaching hours could hinder the growth of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education.
The ministry explained that weekly math lessons were originally 3.5 hours under the Integrated Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) in 1993. However, with the introduction of the Primary School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) in 2011, hours were cut to three per week to prioritise language learning under the ‘Uplifting Bahasa Melayu, Strengthening English’ (MBMMBI) initiative—a schedule that remained unchanged during the 2017 KSSR review.
This move marks a gradual effort to strengthen foundational mathematics skills, responding to growing concerns about students’ STEM readiness and the importance of balanced learning across subjects.
