Intervention can reduce SPM candidate dropouts - Wong

TAIPING: Intervention measures which are not new have been used continuously to deal with the dropout of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates.

Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh said the move is more persuasive to create awareness of each candidate on the importance and advantages of sitting the examination.

"Basically, we have conducted this intervention step before the candidates sit for the SPM exam where it includes giving advice and counseling aimed at making them aware of its importance.

"This effort has shown results where the number of candidates who did not sit the exam has been successfully reduced by 1.2 per cent compared to last year," he said when met after officiating the closing of the Malaysia International Muay Championship (MIMAC) here last night.

On May 27, Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek confirmed that MOE will carry out intervention to detect dropout candidates and give them the opportunity to register for SPM again.

Earlier, a total of 10,160 out of 383,685 new SPM 2023 candidates were reported not to attend the examination.

Meanwhile, Wong said that he believes that the intervention measures can also reduce the dropout problem on a larger scale if it gets full cooperation from all parties, including parents.

"It's not just the government but we all need to foster a phenomenon to encourage children to sit for this exam. If this happens, I'm sure it will be the direction to overcome this dropout issue," he said.

When asked about the factors that caused this dropout to happen, he acknowledged the influence of social media as one of the main causes of the problem.

Commenting on MIMAC, he said this tournament had successfully attracted 240 participants from 120 teams involving 12 countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Laos and Afghanistan.

He added that the main purpose of the competition held between MOE, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) and the Perak Tomoi Association is to help unearth new talents in addition to developing the sport of Muay Thai in the country.

-- BERNAMA

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