NIBONG TEBAL - The attendance of students at schools in the state has been reported to decline for this year's session and there are classes recording attendance of only four students in a day.
The situation was concerning and could cause students to drop out of school and not receive a proper education.
Sungai Acheh State Assemblyman Zulkifli Ibrahim said the issue needed to be viewed seriously by the public especially parents to ensure their children were not involved in pointless activities that could ruin their future.
He said based on the information obtained from the Penang State Education Department (JPN), 529 students had dropped out and only came to school on certain days such as exams.
"From the amount, as many as 246 students found had stated that they no longer wanted to go to school.
"Majority of them are involved with this issue is among the form 3 to form 5 students in fact, it is understood that the school does not know what is being done by students outside of school to make them lose interest in going to school," he said when met after he officiated the Jerayawara Town Hall Jom Bersekolah campaign here today.
Also present was JPN Penang School Management Education Deputy Director Abdul Said Hussain.
Meanwhile, Zulkifli said teenagers who were not interested in school could instead sign up for various government institutions' skills and entrepreneurship programmes.
He explained in order to save the future of the youth especially students from involving themselves in pointless activities, all parties needed to play a role to ensure they would get proper guidance even though they were no longer interested in school.
"Parents and members of the public should know what they weer into, are they comfortably making money by becoming a food deliverer or have talents and expertise that could be brought up.
"Many institutions offer short and long-term courses for these people and they are also given allowances and job opportunities after graduating," he said.
He said parents needed to make a smart decision in this matter without depending on the education certificates and the school dropout certificates solely for the future of the child while they are uninterested in going to school.
"Don't waste their time if the student is not interested to study and achieving a result that is barely enough to pass at the end of their schooling.
"Perhaps we can discover other abilities and talents from the students through participation in various programmes such as at GiatMARA which is now producing many who are in high demand by employers," he said.