KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — The rate of school dropouts in the country from 2019 to 2020 showed a declining trend, the Parliament was told today.
Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying said for primary schools, the dropout rate was 0.12 per cent in 2019 and 0.07 per cent in 2022. For secondary schools, it was 1.14 per cent in 2019 and 0.99 per cent in 2022.
However, the dropout rate for Year Three, Four and Six primary students between 2019 and 2022 increased, while for the secondary school, the dropouts during the same period involved Form Two students.
She was responding to a question from Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung, who wanted to know the dropout rate from the school system and the breakdown of reasons for the dropout by year, age, and gender from 2019 to June 2023 for each state, and the steps taken to get them back to school.
Regarding the gender of the school dropouts during the period, Lim said none were female, while the dropouts among secondary students involved mostly female students.
She cited several reasons for the dropouts, which included a lack of interest in school, working, family problems, marriage, and transportation problems.
In response to a supplementary question from Lee whether the government will implement compulsory education for students up to Form Three to address the problem of dropouts, Lim said the ministry is preparing a draft of the Education Amendment Bill to extend compulsory education up to secondary school.
— Bernama
