Increasing cost of university education: a study conducted in Kuching on the management by Malaysian parents of their childrens’ education / Jennifer Jemat and Karen Sarah Joseph

This study are concerning about the management of children education by Malaysian parents in the face of rising prices. This study will bring us to find out about how the parent feel about the increasing cost in education and how do they manage their budget as to ensure that their children receive the education well. As being reported in HLB.com (2008), the cost of schooling is rising at 6% per annum and this is expected to keep climbing whether a child studies locally or abroad. Education in Malaysia may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling. The education system is highly centralised, particularly for primary and secondary schools, with state and local governments having little say in the curriculum or other major aspects of education. As in other Asian countries such as Singapore and China, standardised tests are a common feature, contributing to the high numbers of school dropouts. (Wikipedia, 2008) Education is a learning process that every individual has an equal and fair opportunity to learn. In Malaysia, formal education starts as early as six years old, as the individual enter his primary one in the primary school. This situation will be going on until the individual complete his primary six in his primary school and will enter form one in the secondary school at the age of thirteen an will complete his form five in the secondary school. This is the basic formal education that an individual should get, and later if the individual wanted to continue his study to a higher level, he could pursue whether to form six in the secondary school or to the high institute education such as the collages or the universities (Gov-Edu, 2008).