Parent Action Group for Education chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said mandating secondary schooling would be futile when many children were dropping out at the primary school level.

She told FMT that primary education had long been compulsory, yet the number of dropouts was still significant.

“We need data on the reasons why students are dropping out of primary schools. Otherwise, the initiative (to mandate secondary education) would be purely cosmetic.

“The education ministry needs to set realistic targets (for lower primary school student dropouts) while looking for a solution,” she said.

According to Unesco data, 145,204 students dropped out of primary school in 2022, a 20% increase compared with 121,231 in 2021. This was attributed to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The education ministry’s bill seeks to amend the Education Act 1996 to make education compulsory up to secondary school.

Education minister Fadhlina Sidek previously said the mandatory primary school education policy had contributed to an enrolment rate of between 98% and 99%.

Fadhlina also said mandating secondary education could help tackle the issue of students skipping their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.

Ainol Madziah Zubairi, a lecturer at International Islamic University Malaysia’s education faculty, supported this policy in principle, saying it would ensure the younger generation would continue their education beyond the primary level.

However, she agreed with Azimah that the government needed to tackle the root issue of dropouts.

Ainol said studies had shown that one of the main reasons students drop out of school, at both the primary and secondary levels, was finance.

“Financial issues are one of the biggest reasons. Therefore, intervention measures must be taken in order for the mandatory secondary education policy to be successful,” she said.