KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry is in the final stages of extending compulsory schooling to 11 years or until Form Five.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh said the extension is necessary to tackle the number of school dropouts.
"Discussions have been held and we are in the final stage of implementing this policy," he said at the Future of National Education Engagement Session on Tuesday (Feb 27).
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In March last year, the ministry submitted a draft proposal to the Attorney General's Chambers to make secondary school education compulsory.
The present Education Policy states that under the Education Act 1996, education is only compulsory up to Year Six.
Wong said the engagement sessions are the second phase in the process of formulating the new blueprint which will replace the current Malaysia Education Blueprint 2012-2025.
The first phase was the analysis of the report on the blueprint.
He added that the first engagement session, held on Tuesday, yielded 724 suggestions involving policies, teachers, students and other topics.
Some of these suggestions are already being worked on by the ministry, Wong added.
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Wong said the current education blueprint will end in 2025 and the ministry had started work on the new blueprint since last year.
He said the session involved various stakeholders, non-governmental organisations, industry players, ministry officials and state education department officials.
Wong also said the ministry will be hosting at least five more engagement sessions and five town hall sessions.
"We want the input from all of you (for the next blueprint)," he added.
