Perak faces school capacity pressure with nearly 30,000 Year One applications for 2027
IPOH, April 17 — Perak is bracing for rising pressure on primary school capacity, with nearly 30,000 applications already submitted for Year One intake in 2027, the State Legislative Assembly was told today.
State Education, Higher Education, Youth and Sports Committee chairman Khairudin Abu Hanipah said 29,610 applications had been received as of April 7, with more than 25,000 involving children aged six and above.
He said district education offices are working with schools to assess readiness and identify capacity gaps ahead of the intake.
“To ensure preparedness, engagement sessions were held to assess school capacity and on-the-ground requirements,” he said in reply to Pasir Panjang assemblyman Rosli Abd Rahman.
Khairudin said the state has outlined several measures to manage the expected surge, including optimising 411 existing schools under the Education Ministry.
He said 159 schools will convert special-purpose rooms into classrooms, while some pupils will be redistributed to nearby schools to ease congestion.
In selected areas, the state will also introduce dual-session schooling and deploy temporary modular cabin classrooms in 27 schools, adding 85 classrooms in total.
“To support this, the state will also supply additional classroom furniture, including thousands of sets of desks and chairs for both teachers and students,” he said.
On manpower, Khairudin said teacher requirements will be submitted through the estimated operating budget, with applications expected in the middle of this year and approval in 2027.
He added that 20,000 education service officers under Grade DG9 will be recruited on a contract basis to help meet staffing needs.
