Child marriages factor in school dropouts

KUALA LUMPUR: Child marriages are among the contributing f actors f or students dropping out of s chool, s ai d Education Minister Maszlee Malik.

“Several other factors that result in students dropping out of school were also i dentified, which differ between one community and another.

“Among these factors are poverty, lack on interest, l ackadaisical attitude of parents, illness or disabilities, learning problems and social problems including underage marriages,” he said when replying to a question by Awang Husiani Sahari (PHPutatan) during the Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

However, Maszlee said there was an improvement in curbing dropouts among primary school pupils.

“There was a rising trend in Year Six students transiting to Form One between 2014 and 2017, from 95.6% to 97.52%.

“The number of primary school dropouts has fallen from 0.34% to 0.29% in the same period.

“The ministry hopes to lower this and has set a 0.27% target for 2019,” he said.