He was responding to a question from Kasthuri Patto (PH-Batu Kawan), who asked about the efforts to eradicate child marriages in the country.

According to Faizal, his ministry assisted the women, family and community development ministry in addressing the issue of child marriages through programmes that focused on poverty and education.

He said giving these teens more opportunities for education and helping them develop their skills would allow them to get access to better job opportunities, thus indirectly addressing the tendency of some youths, especially girls, to marry at a young age.

“I am of the view that the programmes that the youth and sports ministry are doing need to be tidied up and increased with the help of community leaders. If we can work well together, the problem can be reduced.

“On my ministry’s key performance index (KPI) on these initiatives, I have to apologise, as I don’t have the details.

“But I myself am not satisfied with the results so far. We should all do more so that we can resolve the problem,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Faizal also said he was ready to take the lead in conducting awareness programmes in rural areas to address the issue, adding that there was also concern over parents marrying off their children due to economic struggles.

Earlier today it was reported that some 445 students in Malaysia had dropped out of school last year to get married. A total of 411 were female students while the remaining 34 were male.

Among the states that recorded the highest number of cases were Sarawak with 183 cases followed by Sabah (86), Kelantan (43), Pahang (38), and Terengganu and Perak with 21 cases each.