KUALA LUMPUR: All Malaysian children may have to undergo compulsory education up to the secondary level, says Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying.
"The ministry is currently preparing a draft Bill to amend the Education Act to propose compulsory education from the primary level to secondary level. The ministry is taking several initiatives to fine tune the draft," she said.
"This includes holding engagement sessions with stakeholders such as relevant government agencies, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) and non-governmental organisations," added Lim.
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She said this when replying to a supplementary question raised by Lee Chean Chung (PH-Petaling Jaya) in Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday. (Oct 11)
Lee asked if Malaysia would make education compulsory for children until they reach 15 or older as what is done in Thailand and some members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
At present, education for Malaysian children is compulsory up to Primary Six.
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It was previously reported in March this year that the Education Ministry had submitted a draft proposal to the Attorney General's Chambers to make secondary school education compulsory.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the proposal reflected the ministry’s commitment to ensure no student dropouts at both primary and secondary levels.
Earlier, Lim said that there was a decrease in dropouts among primary school students between 2019 and 2022.
"Dropouts among primary schools had decreased from 0.12% in 2019 to 0.07% in 2022," she said.
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At the secondary level, Lim said that it had also recorded a lowering trend for the same period.
She said that secondary school dropouts had decreased from 1.14 % in 2019 to 0.99 % in 2022.
She said the ministry has yet to finalise the number of school dropouts for this year
