MOE To Table Amendments To Education Act For Compulsory Secondary Education Next Month

Barnama

16 hours ago

Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek on a press conference aftet the ASEAN Ministers of Education and Higher Education Roundtables and Events in Langkawi. -- fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED
LANGKAWI, June 19 (Bernama) — The Ministry of Education (MOE) will table amendments to the Education Act 1996 in Parliament next month to make it compulsory for children to receive education until the age of 17 to overcome the problem of student dropout.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said that the enforcement of the law is one of the measures taken to ensure that every child has the right to quality education up to the completion of secondary school.
After finalising the compulsory secondary education policy, we will look into the benefits of compulsory preschool education, she told a press conference after the ASEAN Education Ministers and Higher Education Ministers Roundtable Conference (#EduRoundtables2025) here, today.
The next Parliament session is scheduled to start from July 21 to August 28.
Under the Compulsory Primary Education Policy, every parent of a citizen residing in Malaysia must ensure that their child receives six years of compulsory primary education.
Fadhlina said that the ongoing education reform initiatives include the expansion of preschools, though several challenges remain, particularly in developing the necessary infrastructure, addressing logistics issues, and building the capacity of qualified teachers.
She said that competent and trained teachers are important to providing young children with early exposure and a strong educational foundation at the preschool stage, before they begin formal mainstream schooling, a key step in reducing school dropout rates caused by barriers to early access.
'So, before we implement the policy to make preschool compulsory, we must first prepare the ecosystem, infrastructure and teachers,' she said.
Earlier, Fadhlina delivered a welcoming address at the roundtable conference, which aims to strengthen regional cooperation in education, followed by a closed meeting of ASEAN education ministers.