BATANG KALI: A total of 83,752 students, involving 3,458 schools, will benefit from the implementation of phase one of the “Anak Kita” programme which aims to overcome the issue of school dropouts in the country.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the programme focuses on improving literacy and numeracy among primary school students (3M programme), improving the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) passing rate and reintegrating dropouts into the education system (Dropout programme).
“The 3M Programme involves 53,252 special remedial students from Year Two to Six from Johor, Perak, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah, Sabah, Sarawak, while the SPM Programme involves 10,000 Form 5 students (SPM 2024) and 20,000 Form 4 students (SPM 2025 ).
“The Dropout Programme will involve 500 students from six states, namely Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak,“ she told a press conference after attending the launch of the “Anak Kita” programme at Sekolah Kebangsaan Rasa here today.
Fadhlina said poverty continues to be the primary factor contributing to school dropouts, alongside various social issues in the community.
“So our commitment in the intervention through the ‘Anak Kita’ programme is to make sure that these groups of students return to education without falling further behind or dropping out. We believe that these students still have the potential to be helped and their abilities can be improved.
“They will be assisted either with tuition facilities, face-to-face and hybrid learning in addition to the mentor-mentee programme,“ she said.
Asked whether the implementation of the initiative will further burden teachers in schools, Fadhlina said it would not as the programme would be carried out outside the regular school hours and handled by external teaching staff.
“We also set certain benchmarks in the implementation of this programme and are confident that the results of this effort will be visible as early as next year, especially the SPM Programme,” she added.
