4,800 students drop out yearly

ABOUT 4,800 students drop out of, or are expelled from, public institutions of higher learning every year.

Deputy Higher Education Minister Dr Hou Kok Chung said the number was 1.5% of the total annual enrolment since 2005.

However, this percentage was not alarming, he added.

Dr Hou also said that the ministry did not regard the Universities and University Colleges Act as a factor for students dropping out of the institutions. Instead, the reasons were unsatisfactory academic results, inability to enrol for courses, pursuing studies elsewhere, forging qualifications, and disciplinary issues.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that 1,862 students were involved in various crimes last year.

However, the number of students involved in gangsterism for the purpose of extortion and criminal intimidation had declined from 76 in 2007 to only 46 last year.

To combat crime among students, Dr Wee said, the ministry had been intensifying its integrated crime prevention campaign in schools via the Crime Prevention Club.

So far, 6,447 schools nationwide had set up the club, involving 380,369 members, he added. — Bernama