KOTA KINABALU: There is an urgent need to address the problem of Sabah schoolchildren who fail to learn to read and write, says the state Education Ministry’s national focal person Mohammad Arif Sakaran (pic).
He said Sabah is among the states with the highest number of pupils who have problems with literacy and numeracy, known as 3M (membaca, menulis dan mengira or reading, writing and arithmetic).
The cases mainly involve Year One and Year Two pupils, he added.
He said based on data released by the Education Ministry two years ago, 12,000 pupils from 180 schools in the state face problems in literacy and arithmetic.
“That is the data we received two years ago and I’m worried that the number (is now) higher due to the constraints faced because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We should not allow our state to be left behind as our children are our future,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Mohammad Arif said the problem was due to several factors, including the fact that many of these affected pupils are from remote or far-flung areas in the state.
“We also need parents to get involved to help their children because if they fail to be proficient in reading or writing, they may drop out of school,” he added.
Mohammad Arif said that Sabah Education Department officials had gone down to the ground to address literacy and arithmetic problems faced by schoolchildren.
“We were involved in addressing this problem, but the pandemic made it difficult for us to continue the previous programme.
“Now that the Covid-19 SOP (standard operating procedure) has been relaxed, we can restart the programme by holding discussions with district education officials and school headmasters throughout Sabah on how to address this issue,” he added.
He said they would also consider seeking assistance from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) to seek views and resolutions to the problem.“We also want views from outside so that everyone can work together with the Education Ministry to jointly solve this problem,” he added.