THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

1912 : The first school in Brunei was a Malay medium primary school and followed by
the building of similar schools in other parts of the country.

1916 : The first Chinese vernacular school was established.

1931 : First non-government English medium primary school was established in Seria.

1941 : By the time the Second World War broke out, there were 32 primary schools,
comprising a mixture of Malay, Chinese and English vernacular types. Before the
War, only primary education was available in Brunei. There were no secondary
schools.

1951 : With the establishment of the Education Department by the government, the first
government preparatory school that taught in both Malay as well as English
medium was set up in 1952.

1953 : English medium preparatory pupils were able to proceed to secondary education
with the establishment of the first English medium secondary school the same
year. Secondary education in the Malay medium was not available in the country
then.

1954 : The First National Development Plan (1954-1959) laid the foundation for the
basic structure of the education system in Brunei. The education pattern was 6-3-
2. It represented six years of primary education, three years of lower secondary
and two years of upper secondary.

1960 : Criteria for pupil retention were set up to ensure that pupils progressed smoothly
through the different levels in the mainstream schooling and to lower attrition.
Retention of pupils was based on performance in school and public examinations.
Those who failed could repeat only once at each level, for all levels of schooling

1966 : Malay medium secondary education became available in Brunei, with the
establishment of the first Malay secondary school or Sekolah Menengah Melayu
Pertama (SMMP).

1969 : Pupils were allowed to repeat only once at specific levels: Primary 4 and 6 (Malay
stream), English Preparatory 3 (English stream), Secondary 3 and 5, and Upper 6

1972 : The 1972 Education Commission Report provided the basis for initiating further
changes and development of the structure.

1976 : The retention criteria were extended to include school attendance, whereby pupils
with less than 85% attendance were not allowed to sit for public examinations.

1979 : Pre-school became compulsory for all children at the age of five years before they
could enrol in Primary 1 with thw adoption of the report.
1985 : The Bilingual Education Policy was implemented and comprehensive education
pattern of 7-3-2-2 evolved. Education provision was made for seven years at
primary level (including pre-school); three years at lower secondary; two years at
upper secondary; and two years at pre-university, post-secondary training, or
vocational/technical education. Several higher educational institutions were
established to provide for post-secondary and tertiary education. They are
University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) in 1985, Institute of Technology Brunei
(ITB) in 1986, technical and engineering Colleges, vocational schools, and
Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah College of Nursing in 1986.

1989: Ministry of Education introduced the Extended Secondary Programme or Program

Menengah Lanjutan, . In this programme, lower secondary students who obtained
Grades 1 and 2 in their Brunei Junior Certificate of Education (BJCE) examination
could proceed to upper secondary and sit for the Brunei Cambridge GCE ‘O’ Level
examination after two years. However, those who obtained Grade 3 in the BJCE
examination were given an extra year (three years) to prepare for the same public
examination. Unfortunately, the intentions of the Extended Secondary Programme
were not fully well received

1996 Brunei Junior Certificate of Education (BJCE) replaced with the Brunei Cambridge
GCE `N’ Level programme. With the institutionalization of the BC GCE `N’, the
education pattern was further differentiated into 7-3-2-1-2: seven years of preschool
and primary, three years of lower secondary, two years of upper secondary BC
GCE ‘N’, and another one year of upper secondary leading to BC GCE ‘O’.
However, after eight years of implementation, and upon evaluation, the ‘N’ level too
was found unsuitable for Brunei’s context, and was withdrawn in 2005.

2005 To meet the ever increasing demand for vocational/technical and higher education,
new institutions were established, for example Wasan Vocational School in 2005, and University
of Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic (UNISSA).The establishment of a polytechnic is also in the pipeline. At
the lower secondary level, an early intervention programme that enabled students to proceed
directly through the vocational/technical route, instead of the mainstream schooling, was
implemented in 2005.