Chinese independent high school
| Chinese Independent High School | |||||||||||||||
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Chinese Independent High School in Simplified Chinese (top) and Traditional Chinese character (below) | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 華文獨立中學 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 华文独立中学 | ||||||||||||||
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A Chinese independent high school is a type of private high school in Malaysia. Such schools provide secondary education in the Chinese language as the continuation of the public primary education in Chinese national-type primary schools or SJK(C). Their main medium of instruction is Mandarin Chinese using simplified Chinese characters.
The United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM), also known as the Dong Zong (董总; 董總; Dǒng Zǒng), coordinates the curriculum used in the schools and organises the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) standardised test. Despite this, the schools are independent of each other and are free to manage their own affairs.
Chinese independent high schools represent a small number of high schools in Malaysia. The number of Chinese independent high schools differed among sources, ranging from 60 to 63, due to the ambiguous status of SM Chong Hwa Kuantan and whether branch campuses count as separate schools. In 2020, UCSCAM adopted the "60+2+1" formula in describing the number of Chinese independent high schools:
- 60 Chinese independent high schools originated from the aftermath of school conversions in the 1960s
- 2 branch campuses of Foon Yew High School (Kulai branch and Bandar Seri Alam branch)
- 1 private school allowed to participate in the UEC examinations (SM Chong Hwa Kuantan)