KUALA LUMPUR: There needs to be more action taken to prevent teenagers from dropping out of school to get married, says Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu (pic).

       The Youth and Sports Minister said that he was also concerned over the figures after Parliament was told 445 youths, comprising 411 girls and 34 boys, had left school to get married since 2020.

       "We need to boost programmes that can fill their time so they will be able to be influenced to get better education and skills," he said

       "This will allow them to have better working opportunities in the future rather than finding an easy way out by getting married at such a young age.

       "We need to strengthen and increase such programmes and I think these will include the programmes introduced by my ministry with the support of all, including community leaders,"added Ahmad Faizal.

       On his Ministry's key performance index (KPI) on these initiatives, Ahmad Faizal said he did not have the details and would provide it in a written answer.

       "But I myself am not satisfied with the results so far. We should all do more so we can resolve the problem," he said.

       Ahmad Faizal said the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry had taken the lead in the issue of child marriages and developed a five-year national strategy plan to handle the causes of child marriages, containing short-, medium- and long-term actions involving government agencies, civil society and communities from 2020 to 2025.

       "The implementation of the programme is under 61 Federal government agencies, non-governmental organisations and international bodies.

       "The Youth and Sports Ministry is among those involved to implement the initiatives," he said.

       Earlier, Kasthuri Patto (PH-Batu Kawan) asked the Youth and Sports Ministry in a supplementary question during Question Time to explain measures taken to help the 445 youths who dropped out from school in order to get married.