3,150 students dropped out of schools, says exco in charge of Orang Asli

IPOH, Dec 3 — A total of 3,150 Orang Asli students, including 111 from primary school became dropouts in Perak since 2008, the exco in charge of Orang Asli community Asmuni Awi told the state assembly today.

“About 7,023 Orang Asli primary school students had registered between 2008 and 2018 but only 6,912 students completed their studies.

“While, out of 7,150 secondary students who registered, only 4,111 had completed their studies until form five,” he said.

Asmuni also said that several reasons have been cited as to why these students and pupils opted out of school.

“Firstly, parents did not care about their children’s education, low self-esteem, they are not used to mixing with outside community and lastly lack of motivation and not being aware of the importance of education,” he said.

Asmuni said that both state and federal governments are taking initiatives to overcome this issue.

He said the Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa), the District Education Office, and the respective schools had set up a task force to prevent truancy among the Orang Asli students.

“The department has been working with several parties to create educational awareness at ‘hot spot’ villages.

“This is to mainly encourage students to go to school, Jakoa has also presented RM2 as pocket money to secondary students, rationing of raw food, as well as providing transportation to school,” he said.

Asmuni said stationery fees were also paid directly to the school cooperatives for the students, while the needs of those staying in hostels are also being looked after.

He added that scholarships are provided to those who furthered their studies at Public Higher Education Institutions.