BATANG KALI, Sept 27 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) today announced a new programme aimed at curbing school dropouts and boosting the academic performance of 83,752 students in schools nationwide.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek stated that the programme, called "Program Anak Kita” has three primary goals: reintegrating dropouts into the education system, improving literacy and basic skills among primary school students, and fostering greater engagement with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

It also aims to improve the passing rates of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates by providing targeted support in compulsory subjects such as History and the Malay Language, ensuring they qualify for the SPM certificate.

Fadhlina, who was speaking at the launch of the programme at SK Rasa here, meanwhile said that the 83,752 students are either categorised as dropouts or lagging behind in education.

"However, they have the potential to perform. So we do not view this solely from one aspect, but how their potential can be increased, and therefore we made a decision that they need to be given some assistance. The programme is one that is dynamic. There is tuition, there is a one-to-one approach, there is hybrid and there is the mentor-mentee approach as well,” she said, adding that the ministry will evaluate the exact needs of the students for its intervention approaches.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, Bernama quoted Fadhlina expressing confidence that the results of the programme will be visible as early as next year, especially the SPM programme.

When asked about the reasons for school students dropping out, Fadhlina pointed to poverty as the key reason. She however did not elaborate.

"So in all aspects of education, we have set a benchmark that is very important, that is that no child will be left behind,” she added.

Data from the MoE which was shared with the media, showed that there are 500 school students under its "Program Murid Cicir” from 50 secondary schools and 20 primary schools.

As for the 3M programme, 53,252 students from Primary Two until Primary Six have been identified, while 30,000 students in Forms Four and Five have been categorised for the SPM Programme.

Meanwhile, at a joint press conference later after the launch of the programme here, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who was also present, said: "In the 2024 Budget, the government had allocated RM100 million for programmes under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), especially for initiatives to address school dropouts happening in Malaysia. This is not to take over the efforts of the MOE, but to give more support so that we can mitigate the issues happening in the country.”

Amir said that the initiative is a whole-of-nation and whole-of-government approach, which also involves civil societies, public universities, corporations and government-linked companies (GLCs), as well as international organisations, to build better human resources to build a better Malaysia.

The "Program Anak Kita” is one of the government’s priority areas of initiative under the focus of education reform, to address the problem of dropouts in Malaysia, and will also see collective efforts from the Madani Monitoring Unit, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and Yayasan Hasanah.

This intervention programme will be running until December 31, 2025.