A total of 19,179 primary and secondary school teachers opted for early retirement between 2022 and May this year, with most citing a loss of interest in teaching.
Deputy education minister Wong Kah Woh told the Dewan Rakyat that 5,306 teachers retired early in 2022, followed by 6,394 in 2023, 5,082 in 2024, and 2,397 as of May 2025.
Wong said a loss of interest in teaching was cited by 67.44% of teachers in their applications for optional early retirement.
This was followed by family problems (17.43%), health problems (7.69%), workload (5.37%) and personal problems (2.08%).
He said the ministry conducts permanent teacher recruitment twice a year, while the Education Service Commission keeps its teacher application system open year-round to speed up recruitment and placement.
He was responding to a question from Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN–Masjid Tanah) on the number of teachers who chose early retirement between 2022 and 2024, and the measures taken by the ministry to address teacher shortages.
Wong said the ministry had outlined seven measures aimed at reducing teachers’ workload, including scrapping low-impact school events and appointing members of the public as examination invigilators.
He also said the ministry had introduced teaching assistants at schools with more than 1,500 students to help reduce teachers’ administrative workload.
Wong said 282 schools had been assigned two teaching assistants, with plans to expand the programme to other schools.
