Talks held with 11 states on expanding scheme to help school dropouts

KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry has held engagement sessions with 11 states on expanding the Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih (SBJK) programme, which was created to provide access to education for children who drop out of school.

Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh (pic) said the states involved were Penang, Johor, Pahang, Terengganau, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Kelantan, Perak, Sabah and Sarawak.

“The findings of the engagement sessions will be reviewed before a final decision is made by the ministry,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (March 27).

Roslan Hashim (PN-Kulim Bandar Baharu) had asked about the effectiveness of SBJK in reducing the dropout rate.

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Wong said SBJK 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 SK Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in October last year.

He said based on ministry statistics, the dropout rate at primary school level last year was only 0.06%, down from 0.29% in 2017.

“At secondary school level, the dropout rate decreased from 1.36% in 2017 to 0.83% last year.

“Between the city and rural areas, the rate of students leaving government primary schools in the city is 0.37%, and 0.1% in rural schools.

“At secondary level, the dropout rate is 3.13% in the city and 4.67% in rural areas,” he said.

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Wong said other measures to reduce the dropout rate included providing 18 types of schooling assistance last year, comprising 13 types of special assistance and five types of general assistance.

This aid was also distributed to students who drop out due to poverty, he added.

“In addition, a dropout outreach programme is also carried out by all district Education Offices in collaboration with the local community.

“Last year, this programme succeeded in persuading a total of 1,269 primary students and 2,006 secondary students to return to school,” he said. – BK