KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The new year school session will start in January again beginning 2026, announced Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek today.
She said plans were being made by the ministry to bring forward the beginning of the academic calendar for the 2024/2025 session to February 2025.
“The ministry has studied the proposal to restore the school academic calendar to start in January like before… It is hoped that with this announcement, the financial and economic aspects can be planned from now by all parties involved.
“Indirectly, the planning of family holidays, and feasts for teachers as announced in the 10 initiatives in conjunction with Teachers’ Day (recently) will be arranged based on the new academic calendar which will be sent for gazette,” she said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was responding to a question from Aminolhuda Hasssan (PH-Sri Gading) on when can the academic calendar for schools to start in January again.
Fadhlina told the Parliament that in determining the academic calendar year for schools, it had to ensure that the teaching and learning process could be carried out optimally and meet the required number of 190 school days in a year.
“The ministry has also aligned the public examination schedule so that it is in line with the change in the school academic calendar,” she added.
According to her, any changes to the school academic calendar need to take into account local economic factors, the flood season to ensure that it does not interfere with public examination schedules such as the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM).
