Abstract
Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of technical efficiency of Malaysia’s secondary education. Education efficiency has become an important issue since the education sector is the recipient of high priority budget allocation. An evaluation of whether the budget distribution for secondary education is technically efficient is necessary because secondary education represents almost 40% of the national education budget. 
 
 Methodology: The study applied the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in examining the level of technical efficiency for a sample of 626 secondary schools from four selected states, namely, Selangor, Melaka, Kedah, and Terengganu. The sample was further split into schools from developed and less developed states, and urban and rural areas. 
 
 Findings: The results revealed that secondary schools in the four sample states were technically inefficient (almost 98%). Most schools were at a moderate level of technical efficiency (score range between 0.5-0.79). Interestingly, schools in rural areas and less-developed states showed better technical efficiency than those in urban areas and developed states. Given the government's total expenditure, academic achievement could be increased by almost 30 percent with an improvement in inefficiency.
 
 Contributions: The study's fundamental implications are that inefficient secondary schools need to increase their efficiency by ensuring effective budget spending and adequate expenditure distribution monitoring. More schools need to be constructed or repaired, and old schools/buildings upgraded. The sector also needs to expedite compliance with the 17:1 student-teacher ratio set by the Education Ministry to improve teaching delivery quality.
 
 Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, government spending, secondary school, student and teacher ratio, technical efficiency.
 
 Cite as: Baba, R., Abdul Karim, Z., Abdul-Majid, M., & Sulaiman, N. (2021). Technical efficiency of secondary schools in Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 265-283. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp265-283
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