The Ministry of Education will hold discussions with parents and teachers to identify why students prefer late night activities to the detriment of the learning process.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk P.Kamalanathan said his ministry would accept whatever views and suggestions to overcome such problems and to improve the country's education system.

"When students want to do something outside of school hours, it is not under the control of the Education Ministry. However, we are open to discussions on the matter," he said when asked whether the ministry has ways or solutions to prevent incidents such as the fatal accident involving eight students in Johor Bahru.

Earlier, Kamalanathan handed over a Special Allocation Cheque for Minor Maintenance Projects 2016 to Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil in Perak here Tuesday.

Kamalanathan said the ministry had no plans to add extra-curricular activities in schools to ensure students do not indulge in late night activities.

He said there was enough extra-curricular activities now and there have been no complaints from parents.

"We also cannot allow them (students) to be in school all day, they need to rest too. We need to consider various aspects before implementing something because we do not want to implement something that people do not like," he said. -- Bernama