IPOH: The 25 foreign students applying to study in Chinese independent schools in Penang, Perak, Sabah and Kuala Lumpur will be given a support letter from the Ministry of Education for the Immigration Department.

This means their applications made between June and August to the private education division of the Ministry of Education would be processed once requirements are met, said Tan Tai Kim, Chairman of the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong).

Tan said he had been informed of the status of the students’ applications by Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying, and thanked her for the assistance in sorting out the pending applications quickly.

It has never been an issue previously for foreign students to apply to the Ministry of Education to study in Chinese independent schools.

However, the Ministry of Education suspended several foreign students’ applications to study in several Chinese independent schools last year.

Tan paid Lim a visit at the latter’s office on 14 September to sort out the matter.

Dong Zong would start compiling information on this to help foreign students apply to study in Chinese independent schools, he said.

These students are the children of Malaysia My Second Home participants or foreigners working here with valid permits.

As of August 2023, a total of 728 foreign students are studying in Chinese independent schools across the country, majority of them from China (339 or 47.35% of total).

Foreign students from Thailand form the second largest group with 114, or 15.92%, followed by Japan (79 or 11.03%) and Indonesia (69 or 9.64%).

Most foreign students are studying in Chinese independent schools in Penang (233), followed by Kuala Lumpur (116) and Sabah (112).

Lim said the Ministry of Education is currently reviewing the guidelines on the recruitment of foreign students by Chinese independent schools to prevent the abuse of social passes.