School hours and holidays
The school year in Malaysia starts in January and goes to the third week of November. The minimum number of schooling days per year is 190. Malaysian students have 5 holidays which sum up to an amount of 11 weeks. The regulations of how the holidays are distributed throughout the year are supervised by the individual states.
The school hours in Malaysia are another of the issues of the educational system. Due to a too large number of students and a shortage of schools, the students are taught in a two-session system. This means that the first session goes from approx. 7.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and is mostly followed by compulsory co-curricular activities. The afternoon session, on the other hand, lasts until approx. 6.45 p.m. As some student live in a large distance to the schools, they arrive home at around 8 or 9 p.m. and this already in primary schools.