The Ministry of Education (MOE) is trying its best to keep students in school. For the year 2009, drop out rates are only 1.5 per cent. MOE hopes to keep it that way until next year.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education Masagos Zulkifli, as reported in Channel News Asia, tells us that Singapore’s drop out rate for 2009 is quite low compared to that of the other countries that he has visited. Despite the fact that Singapore is better off than many countries when it comes to keeping students in school, the MOE is still trying its best by reviewing all current programmes.
Currently, the ministry supports schools that have a poor school attendance rate. Additional funding is given to them so they can have more resources to develop programmes that will make their students excited about school.
I think it’s great that the MOE is supporting schools that have a high drop out rate. Schools need to be creative in developing supplementary programmes that will be very appealing to their students. But before schools start developing or creating supplementary programs, they should first try to determine the primary reason why students drop out of school.
What do you think are the reasons why students drop out of school? What types of programmes do you think will help keep them in school? Do you think MOE can maintain this drop out rate?