IPOH, Sept 10 — A total of 1,254 students in Perak have been identified as being at risk of dropping out of school in 2025, said State Education, Higher Education, Youth and Sports Committee chairman Khairudin Abu Hanipah at the State Legislative Assembly today.
Khairudin, who is also the Belanja assemblyman, said out of this number, 231 are primary school pupils while 1,023 are secondary school students.
“Meanwhile, a total of 743 students have already dropped out this year, comprising 72 from primary schools and 565 from secondary schools.
“However, 133 students, including 17 from primary schools and 116 from secondary schools, have returned to continue their studies,” he said.
Khairudin pointed out that lack of interest remains the leading factor behind school dropouts, accounting for 334 cases.
“While other key reasons include expulsion (230 cases) and students leaving school to work (86 cases),” he added.
He was replying to an oral question from Pengkalan Hulu assemblyman Mohamad Amin Roslan on how many dropout students have returned to school through intervention, by district, school level and reason.
To tackle the issue, Khairudin said the State Education Department (JPN) has introduced various intervention programmes aimed at preventing students from leaving the formal education system.
“The Red Flag Risiko Cicir (RFRC) system has helped detect students at risk of dropping out earlier, allowing interventions to be carried out immediately.
“With the support of Yayasan Perak, the implementation of RFRC has led to an increase in overall student attendance in Perak, rising from 90.22 per cent in 2023 to 91.29 per cent in 2024, and 92.69 per cent as of the end of August 2025,” he said.
He added that JPN also held attendance-focused performance dialogues with district education offices (PPD) that recorded low attendance, aimed at empowering them to improve school attendance performance.
“In addition, JPN carried out similar dialogues with five schools in each district that showed low attendance, to strengthen school management in addressing the issue and further improving student attendance rates,” he said.
