Education must come first, Dr Say tells followers

SHAH ALAM - Celebrity doctor Dr Shazril Shaharuddin or better known as Dr Say expresses shock over the latest data issued by the Malaysian Statistics Department (DOSM) which shows that 72 per cent of Sijil Persekolahan Malaysia (SPM) graduates are not interested in continuing their studies.

The social media influencer said it was surprising that youths nowadays thought that making money was more important than education due to exposure from the internet and social media.

He said many SPM graduates did not want to further their studies as they had the mindset that having no education was fine as they could still become rich by becoming a social media influencer.

“They think that without education, they could still be famous and successful and that if they had continued their studies, they would get a job with a lower income than those who did not.

“This is alarming and something needs to be done,” he wrote on his Instagram account.

He said his mother has always held to the principle that education must always come first no matter what, as it shapes the way people think, act and talk.

He added that without education, people were posting ridiculous contents such as prank videos, videos which insult religions and videos of people yelling sickens.

“And this is because they think that any type of viral whether it is good or bad is still a good viral,” he said.

Dr Say said television stations that called the people in the viral videos to appear on television had made them even more popular, hence it was not surprising that youths were more interested in becoming an influencer instead of professionals.

It was reported that DOSM statistics in 2019 found that 72.1 per cent of SPM graduates were interested in joining the workforce after the exam.

The main factors among others were that they were interested in becoming influencers on social media and believed that continuing their studies do not guarantee them better jobs.