Teacher salary in Malaysia

What a new government teacher earns

Starting basic pay at DG9 runs from RM2,360 with a degree and teaching diploma to RM3,460 with a doctorate.

Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan grade DG9, from the SPA service scheme, 2026. Basic salary only.

Source: Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam, service scheme for Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Gred DG9. Each route also requires a credit in Bahasa Melayu at SPM level.

• Allowances not shown: government teachers receive housing and cost-of-living allowances like other officers, but the 2026 amounts for DG9 are not stated in any official notice we hold. We do not estimate them.
• A year at the start: RM2,360 × 12 = RM28,320 basic, before allowances.
• 2026 intake: the Ministry of Education opened applications in March 2026 for 20,000 DG9 teachers on contract of service, with teacher training at IPG during the contract.

How pay grows on the government scale

Grade 9 pay rises RM225 a year, from RM2,360 at the start up to RM11,110. Promotion to DG10 and above moves a teacher onto a higher range.

Minimum and maximum monthly basic salary for each SSPA grade, 2026.

Source: Ministry of Finance, Budget 2026 establishment list, Lampiran A: SSPA salary codes and minimum-maximum salaries (page A-1). Basic salary only.

• Increments only: at RM225 a year, a teacher starting at RM2,360 would need about 39 yearly increments to reach RM11,110.
• Promotion grades: DG10 starts at RM3,840 and DG12 to DG14 at RM5,530 to RM6,560. Senior and excellent teacher posts sit on these grades.
• Not every grade applies to every post. Which teaching posts sit at each grade is set in the education service scheme.

Compared with Malaysian pay overall

A new teacher's RM2,360 basic is below the national median of RM2,940, but the figure excludes allowances. The DOSM median for the whole education industry is RM5,721.

• Education industry median covers lecturers, school staff and administrators in public and private institutions, most of them experienced.
• Measures differ: DOSM figures cover all paid employees and all ages. The government figure is one fixed pay point. Use them for scale, not as a direct comparison.

Private and international schools

There is no official figure for teacher pay in private or international schools.

• DOSM publishes salaries by state, sector and skill level, but not by job title. Its education industry median, RM5,721, is the closest official figure.
• The pay scale above applies to government posts only. Private and international schools set their own pay.
• Private surveys and job ads use different measures and samples, so their figures are not mixed into the tables here.

Data sources and coverage

The SPA service scheme and the SSPA pay scale give exact starting pay and ranges for government teachers. Allowances and private school pay have no official source we can cite.

• Compared with Singapore: Singapore's MOM publishes median pay by job title, age and industry. Malaysia publishes exact government pay scales but no market-wide figure by job.
• What a payslip shows is basic plus allowances plus any shift, on-call or overtime pay, so it can be higher than the fixed figures here.

Is teaching affected by AI?

The International Labour Organization rates secondary education teachers Not exposed for exposure to generative AI. Its scores cover the job worldwide, so they apply in Malaysia too.

• Average task score 0.30 out of 1, across 11 main tasks.
• Most exposed task: Designing and modifying curricula and preparing educational courses of study in accordance with curriculum guidelines (0.47).
• Least exposed task: Establishing and enforcing rules for behaviour and procedures for maintaining order among students (0.23).
• What exposure measures: how much of the work AI could do or speed up. It does not measure job cuts.

What the pay figures include

Every figure is monthly basic pay or fixed allowances, before deductions.

Related guides

Sources