BATANG KALI, Sept 27 — A total of 83,752 students across 3,458 schools will benefit from the implementation of Phase 1 of the “Anak Kita” programme, which aims to address dropouts in the country.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the programme focuses on improving literacy and numeracy among primary school students (3M programme), improving the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) pass rate, and reintegrating dropouts into the education system (dropout programme).
“The 3M Programme involves 53,252 special remedial students from Years 2 to 6 from Johor, Perak, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah, Sabah, and Sarawak, while the SPM programme involves 10,000 Form 5 students (SPM 2024) and 20,000 Form 4 students (SPM 2025).
“The dropout programme will involve 500 students from six states — Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak,” she told a press conference after attending the launch of the “Anak Kita” programme at SK Rasa here today.
Fadhlina said poverty continues to be the primary factor contributing to school dropouts, alongside various social issues in the community.
“Our commitment in the intervention through the ‘Anak Kita’ programme is to make sure these groups of students return to education without falling further behind or dropping out. We believe these students still have the potential to be helped and their abilities can be improved.
“They will be assisted with tuition facilities and face-to-face and hybrid learning, in addition to a mentor-mentee programme,” she said.
When asked if the implementation of the initiative will further burden teachers, Fadhlina said it would not as the programme is carried out beyond regular school hours and handled by external teachers.
“We also set certain benchmarks in the implementation of this programme and are confident the results of this effort will be visible by as early as next year, especially for the SPM programme,” she added.
— Bernama
