THE Year One school session for children starting at the age of six and preschool classes at the age of five only involve parents and children who are truly ready, said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
She explained that it is not mandatory because the psychological and emotional readiness of children is an important government priority to avoid any negative impact on early childhood development.
"We only encourage ready parents … and most importantly, the child themselves must be ready. If the child is not ready in terms of psycho-emotional, we do not want there to be an impact on them," she said.
She said this at a briefing session after the Launching Ceremony of the National Education Plan 2026-2035, officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, today.
Earlier, Anwar, when officiating the ceremony, explained that the change was not yet mandatory for parents to give various parties space to prepare for the new educational environment, especially educators.
"This means that starting next year, (even though) we are not ready to make it mandatory because there may be parents who feel their children are not ready, (then) we have decided that they can still enter Year One (at the age of) seven.
"But we encourage parents who are ready now, so that their five-year-old children can enter preschool. We are currently focusing on preschool. We have asked the Ministry of Education (MOE) to take over and coordinate the entire preschool system," said the Prime Minister.
Anwar said that immediate preparations need to be made by the MOE in accepting changes to the country's new education system.
Fadhlina said that the MOE will announce the implementation timeline to enable parents to make more careful decisions.
"Parents should discuss it well, make decisions calmly and see how ready their children are. When we have clear data, preparations can be made more systematically," she said.
Commenting on concerns about the possibility of an overflow of students and school infrastructure issues, she said that the implementation will be done in stages by prioritising children who are truly ready.
"The solution is to start with those who are ready first. From the data we collect, only then can we arrange preparations including infrastructure," she said.
She explained that the existing cohort of seven-year-old students will continue as usual, while the addition of six-year-old students to Year One will be made based on data and school readiness. – January 20, 2026
