TWO DAP MPs today lashed out at Senior Minister (Education) Datuk Mohd Radzi Jidin for his “non-answer” over the number of students who had dropped out from school between 2018 and 2021.
“Under the parliamentary democracy system, the Parliament serves as a check and balance to ensure the Executives do their jobs responsibly.
“And the Executive must be serious in answering questions raised by MPs by giving detailed and comprehensive answers.
“But recently, the Education Ministry (MOE) has proven that it has scant respect for the Parliament by not answering Bukit Mertajam MP’s questions properly,” Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching and Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim said in a joint statement.
Teo is a former deputy education minister.
On March 15, Sim asked Radzi at the Dewan Rakyat to detail out the number of school dropouts between 2018 and 2021; in terms gender, age, race and state.
To his dismay, Radzi digressed on his written reply to the DAP lawmaker, opting to talk about MOE’s Sistem Aplikasi Pangkalan Data Murid (APDM) instead.
“MOE finds that APDM, which is used since 2012, needs upgrading especially when it comes to recording the number of school dropouts.
“Therefore, the ministry is working on improving the procedure to manage school dropouts, including coming up with intervention programmes to deal with children who are applying to leave schools,” Radzi mentioned.
Data needed for intervention programmes
Livid over the matter, the lawmakers accused Radzi of disrespecting the Parliament for not touching on the question at all.
“This is absurd. Is Radzi saying that just because APDM is undergoing upgrading works, he cannot provide the details required?
“The answer given has nothing to do with the question and perhaps we need to look into how we treat the question-and-answer sessions at the Parliament,” the duo mentioned.
On the APDK system, the MPs stressed that the system would be able to provide the required details at all times.
They added that the data was important so as to determine on how COVID-19 has affected the national education system and Malaysian children.
“And if MOE doesn’t have the details on school dropout rate, then how are they going to come up with intervention programmes?
“We are worried that school dropouts may have increased during the pandemic but without proper data, we cannot deal with it properly,” the duo quipped. – March 19, 2022
