KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Over 400 school dropouts in Perak have been able to return to school due to the work and initiatives taken by the Special Committee to eradicate school dropout problem in the state.

Perak Education, Technology, Science and Environment Committee chairman Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said the committee, which was formed four months ago, had worked with various government agencies, including the Education Department, the National Registration Department, the Social Welfare Department and the Perak Islamic Religious Department to address the matter comprehensively.

"This committee ensures immediate action is taken to enable the students to return to school and not roaming around and create social problems.

"Thus far, I am proud with the success of the committee and hope this committee will come out with effective recommendations so that the problem can be solved completely,” he told Bernama here today.

Abdul Aziz was met before the recording of the Bernama News Channel’s Upsound programme to discuss "the cancer of racial politics and the future of the nation”, which will be broadcast at 8.30pm Wednesday.

Elaborating, Abdul Aziz said the effort would not stop there but would be expanded to address the same problem for students at tertiary level.

"Education is the fundamental right for every individual and in order to achieve greater success, this committee needs more efforts. At the recent meeting between Education Minister Maszlee Malik and state executive councillors in charge of education, the minister also promised to make sure this effort will not be disrupted,” he said.

Therefore, Abdul Aziz, who is also Tebing Tinggi assemblyman, also hoped that the success of the committee in solving education-related issues could be a guide to other states.

He said the problem should be addressed by all parties for the future of the students. — Bernama