3,017 primary schools nationwide under-enrolled: deputy minister

PUTRAJAYA – A total of 3,017 primary schools in the country are categorised as under-enrolled, with less than 150 pupils each currently, said Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.

This involves 2,034 national schools, 616 Chinese vernacular schools (SJKC), and 367 Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT). There are a total of 5,877 national schools, 1,302 SJKC, and 527 SJKT.

“The issue of under-enrolment is serious and needs to be solved quickly by identifying its root cause. Some of the factors could be socio-economic change, demography, the passage of time, and so on,” he said at a press conference after chairing the SKM SJKC Working Committee Meeting here today.

Mah said the newly-formed committee would focus on SJKC, and would extend its scope to national schools and SJKT if the results of the study can be applied in both streams.

“Three sub-committees will be formed to, among other things, interact and collect information from the schools’ boards of governors.

“They will also provide reading materials and programmes to improve the quality of teaching and learning, and conduct a comprehensive study to identify the problems causing under-enrolment at SJKC,” he added.

He also did not discount the possibility that the study would also look into merging under-enrolled SJKCs.

“That was one of the things we discussed earlier. We have to take into account the feelings of the community towards merging, and look at it comprehensively,” he said, adding that the committee would convene after three months to present the results of the study. – Bernama, September 7, 2022