Music Education in Malaysian Public School: Implementation, Issues, and Challenges (29 - 43)

Abstract

Music has been formally introduced in the curriculum of Malaysian Public since 1982. This new curriculum was only implemented in the primary school. Only in 1996, the curriculum was introduced in a few selected secondary school throughout Malaysia. Since then, there are lots issues and problems had been raised by various parties about the implementation of this subject meet the objectives of its implementation of this subject in Malaysian public school. The question is, to what extent this subject meet the objectives of its implementation? This paper will briefly discuss the background of so-called ‘Malaysian Music in order to understand the musical culture of Malaysia. In addition, it will also provide some rationales for the inclusion of Music Education in public school curriculum as well as review the present state of Music Education in Malaysian Public Schools. The ending part of this paper will discuss the issues and problems that had arisen from the implementation of Music Education in Malaysian public schools.