Bill to make secondary education compulsory will be tabled soon - Fadhlina
TUMPAT - A bill to make secondary education compulsory for Malaysian students will be tabled in Parliament.
In saying this, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said that this was, however, still in progress and the ministry might take some time to table it.
She said this move was crucial in addressing the issue of students dropping out of school, besides other efforts such as intervention programmes.
"The Education Ministry is not defensive about this issue but instead is worried. That is why a bill will be tabled, but it needs to go through certain steps first.
"We are carrying out the intervention programmes as planned previously, and the ministry is highly committed to working together with non-governmental organisations, the community, and the Parents and Teachers Association to solve this problem," she said in a press conference after the opening ceremony of Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Pulau Beluru as K9 Comprehensive School, here, today.
Also present were Education director-general Datuk Pkharuddin Ghazali and the school principal, Mohd Azman Husain.
Fadhlina said K9 School was also one of the initiatives to address the issue by ensuring students are provided with educational facilities at school from Primary One until Form Three.
"SK Pulau Beluru is the first special project or model in Kelantan. The school was selected because the parents of students in this school were among those who were burdened with transportation costs, which can reach more than RM30 a day because they have to ride a boat across the river first and then ride a bus to the school located on the mainland.
"As of now, there are 16 K9 schools across the country, including schools in Pahang, Selangor, and Sarawak," she explained.
She said the ministry will look at the need to increase the number of K9 schools from time to time, especially in rural areas.
For the record, Section 29A(2) of the Education Act 1996 requires parents to send their children to primary school for six years, and if they fail, parents can be fined a maximum of RM5,000, imprisoned for a maximum of six months, or both.
