SERDANG: The Education Ministry said that the amendments to the Education Act 1996 cannot be done arbitrarily.
Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said there have been many studies on the existing act but any amendment would need a holistic approach in gathering views before it could be done.
"We have to look at different perspectives because if we amend the act, then we have to take action against those who flout it.
"Yes, we can look at ways on making improvements (to the act), but at the same time, n-depth views must be taken into account," Radzi said after delivering an education talk at the 2022 Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agro-tourism (MAHA) exhibition at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) here today.
He was responding to educationists and legal experts who had urged the government to amend Section 29A of the Education Act 1996 to make schooling compulsory up to Form Five.
These experts had said that the amendment to the law would reduce dropout rates, while also curbing child marriages and child labour.
In December last year, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon told the Dewan Rakyat that 21,316 students had quit school between March 2020 and July 2021.
On June 16, Education director-general Datuk Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid reported that 24,941 registered candidates did not sit the 2021 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.
Meanwhile, Radzi also stressed that the decision on combining schools with fewer students, or postponing the implementation to combine them had been reached following detailed studies conducted by the ministry.
"It is a continuous process. It is a long process.
"We cannot combine the schools as we please. We have to look at different aspects regardless of when there is a need to combine.
"There is a need to gather and look at data and information before a decision is taken," he said in response to an announcement on the postponement of a combining schools exercise.