ALOR SETAR, June 17 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) aims to increase pre-school enrolment to 90 per cent from the current 80 per cent as a preliminary measure to prevent school dropouts.
Its minister Fadhlina Sidek said in order to achieve that target, MOE will open more pre-schools and run an advocacy campaign to encourage parents to send their children to pre-schools.
“Pre-school enrolment is currently at 80 per cent, while secondary school enrolment is around 78 per cent, which is quite low compared to enrolment in primary schools, which is made compulsory, at 98 per cent.
“So we have two segments of students whose enrolment we need to focus on, namely pre-school and secondary school,” she told reporters after attending the Sesi Motivasi bersama Cikgu Menteri programme, yesterday night.
In addition to the lack of pre-school classes, which was being addressed at the ministry level, Fadhlina cited poverty as a contributing factor to the low primary pre-school enrollment rate.
Asked if the MOE intends to make pre-school education compulsory like primary education, she said the ministry must first resolve pre-school-related issues.
On secondary school dropout, a bill to make secondary education compulsory for students will be tabled in Parliament to ensure students complete their schooling up to Form Five.
— Bernama
