Learning initiative for school dropouts to be reviewed
KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry has conducted engagement sessions with 11 states on the need to expand the Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih, which is a programme created to provide access to education for children who have dropped out of school.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said it involved Penang, Johor, Pahang, Terengganau, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kelantan, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak.
“The findings of the engagement session will be reviewed before a final decision is made by the ministry,” he said in response to a supplementary question by Roslan Hashim (PN-Kulim Bandar Baharu) who enquired about the effectiveness of the programme in reducing school dropouts, during a question-answer-session in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Wong said the programme was introduced in 2013 in Chow Kit here to provide access to education for street and marginalised children around the capital before being expanded to Sekolah Kebangsaan Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in October.
He said based on the ministry’s statistics, the dropout rate at primary school level last year was only 0.06%, down from 0.29% in 2017.
“At the secondary school level, the dropout rate decreased from 1.36% in 2017 to 0.83% in 2023 and, comparing primary schools in the city with those in rural areas, the rate of pupils leaving the ministry’s schools is 0.37% in the city and 0.1% in rural areas.
“For secondary level, the dropout rate is 3.13% in the city and 4.67% in the rural areas. This rate takes into account all students who attended school in Malaysia.”
Wong said various measures have been taken to reduce the number of student dropouts, such as providing 18 types of schooling assistance in 2023, including 13 types of special assistance and five types of general assistance which are also distributed to students who drop out due to poverty.
“The dropout outreach programme is also carried out by all District Education Offices in collaboration with the local community.
“Last year, the programme succeeded in persuading 1,269 primary school pupils and 2,006 secondary school students to return to school,” he said. –