To Set up a Tuition Centre (Part 1)
If you are interested to open a learning centre, or tuition centre, there are certain procedures that you need to fulfill. First of all, get the name of your centre from Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia and see if it’s available. They will give you a temporary statement to on hold the name for 30 days. BTW, it’s better to use a Malay name because it will be approved easily, comparing to an English name.
Then prepare your proposal and hand it in to Jabatan Pelajaran. Tell they your intention to open a tuition centre, and ask them about the proper format of the proposal (kertas kerja) if you are unsure of how to write this. They will guide you through. I’ve prepared more than 5 of kertas kerja, and it’s a piece of cake to me now. Make sure that you get your board of company ready, and the principal and directors have to be SPM certified. You need to attach their SPM certificate and photocopy of IC with the proposal.
After that, wait for their reply. You will be expecting some visits from the fire department to check if your premise if appropriate for setting up a learning centre. You need to have an emergency exit too at some states, but Perak is not that strict. 
BTW, make sure you prepare some First Aid Kits in your centre, and they may come in handy and if you are asked for them, you can just easily show to the personnels who come for inspection.
But while you are waiting for all the documents to be done, you can operate your business as usual, at your own risk. Just make sure that you get all the proper documents done, even if they may take a long time for the approvals. I’m going to renew my kertas kerja again soon, so the whole process of approval is repeated again.
November 17th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Recently I attended a workshop on how to set up a tuition centre. The speaker was from an established tuition chain. It offers a package: RM 65K for licencing, renovation (5 rooms - max 12 students, 1 surau), tables, whiteboards, desks and chairs. On top of that, there is a 10% cut from monthly gross taking for as long as we are using its name. Do you think this is fair and reasonable?
November 18th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Kim, I can’t tell if it’s reasonable unless I know which company you are talking about. LOL! But I can tell you that I paid about 50k per centre, but that was 4 years ago. With the current rate, I don’t think 65k is a lot, but I will have to see the fine prints and the set up of the company.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Hi there,
I am an english language graduate and i have 5 years of teaching experience in a local private university. I am recently actively involved in personal tutoring. I was just wondering if you could elaborate what does SPM stand for? I have plans to set up my own tuition centre very soon as well. What is the minimun capital that i need to set one up? I am thinking of using my own home as the centre. thank you
June 30th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Jessy, SPM stands for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, it’s the certificate for sitting through the exams at Form 5, in Malaysian’s education system. But if you don’t have it, you might want to look for a business partner who owns one. I’m not sure if you can operate it at home as JPN still prefers a business premise. That’s why some tuition teachers are doing it “secretly” at home.