#17: Education Plan to Address Students’ Dropout in Primary and Secondary Schools

The statement that many school students fail to read, some do not go to school, some do not finish school and some do not sit for SPM between 2018 and 2021 shows that student dropout is a critical issue in education in Malaysia. System Theory states that the input of education is students, teachers, school administrators, parents and the environment, so this survey using a qualitative approach is carried out with the objective of exploring dropout factors and strategies to deal with dropout. The interview protocol is the instrument, while 9 primary schools and 9 secondary schools with high dropout rates in the northern, central, southern and eastern zones of Peninsular Malaysia are the study sample. Purposive and stratified sampling was applied to select respondents. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews with an administrator, one or 2 teachers and 2 or 3 students. Focus group discussion involving 15 experts to confirm strategies for dealing with dropouts. Data was transcribed using Cockatoo software and analyzed manually. Findings show that parents, student attitudes, teachers, school administrators, and the environment including the community contribute to dropout. The most frequently mentioned factor is parents. The contribution of the study is to explain the influence of parents, student attitudes, teachers, administrators, and the community on dropout. The study also shows that the compulsory education policy is poorly understood and does not have an impact on parents to be concerned about their children’s attendance at school. The hypothesis developed is that there is a relationship between the attitudes of parents, students, teachers, school administrators, and the community with the level of student dropout. A quantitative study is proposed to determine the extent to which the relationship exists. Efforts are also necessary to explain the compulsory education policy to parents in addition to being extended to secondary schools. Non-formal education involving experts or the local community is necessary for dropout to be addressed.