We must encourage our youths to pursue their tertiary education, and systematically train our young talents if we want to see hope in this country.

PM Anwar Ibrahim said some 30,000 Form 5 students skipped the SPM examination over the past two years and the situation has become increasingly serious and alarming.

On the PM’s concern, deputy education minister Lim Hui Ying explained that the 30,000 students who had registered for SPM but subsequently skipped the exam included also private students who took the exam for just one or two subjects.

Meanwhile, education minister Fadhlina Sidek said the 14,800 students skipping the examination included only who had registered to sit for at least six subjects.

Statistics show that during the 2022 SPM examination, a total of 403,637 students registered for the examination (of whom 388,832 candidates registered to sit for at least six subjects), but 14,858 candidates or 2.72% failed to turn up at the exam halls.

It is obvious that SPM absenteeism is getting more and more serious in recent years, with 40.4% more absentees last year than in 2021.

In view of this, it is imperative that the education ministry take the necessary steps to prevent this phenomenon from worsening in future.

More and more students are skipping SPM over the years. A recent UCSI survey shows that 49% of candidates do not intend to further their studies after SPM. This means that as many as 198,105 students do not intend to further their studies in 2022 alone, at an alarming rate of 50.95%!

According to the UCSI survey, among the young people opting not to further their studies, 34% want to become social media influencers, 26% want to go into e-hailing business, 22% want to start their own businesses or work at restaurants.

Given their young age, these people should seize every chance to further their studies, opening an additional window of opportunities for their own future, as education is an important path to improve their livelihoods and destinies.

Let’s take a look at the career options of our young people today.

Of the 198,105 students reluctant to proceed to a university, 67,000 or 34% want to become influencers. Another 52,000 or 26% are keen to go into e-hailing or delivery business, which unfortunately is already too crowded at this moment and is not suitable to be a life-long career for young people now.

Neither of the above two options is reliable and contributing positively towards the country’s productivity and economic development.

Both Singapore and China, for instance, have been banking on their talent pools to make it possible for their breakneck pace of development.

In China, as many as 12.91 million students take part in this year’s university admission examination or gao kao, but over here, as many as 3.82% of our children don’t even bother to sit for SPM while more than half give up their chances of pursuing university education!

Such a phenomenon could trigger a potential crisis for the nation’s development, if it were to evolve into a norm in future.

At a time when the entire world is fighting for excellence and dominance in various economic fields, the availability of a ready pool of talented and skilled workforce is crucial in determining how successful a country can be.

Unfortunately, we have seen a steady decline in the quality of our human assets.

How is the future generation going to thrive or even survive without the required academic qualifications and skills? Are we going to be reduced to migrant workers in Thailand or Indonesia?

We are not trying to sound alarmist, but such a sinister day may arrive some day if we do nothing about it.

In Indonesia, for example, they have 576 universities, 16 of which have made it to the QS World University Rankings. In 2018, they allowed the world’s top 200 universities to set up branch campuses in Indonesia (including universities run by Catholic or other religions).

This country with an enormous population of 274 million is putting a lot of emphasis on its education and is embracing progress and openness. It is a matter of time we find ourselves falling behind them, not to mention Thailand as well.

It has become an urgent mission now for the authorities to reverse the anomaly of students skipping SPM and rushing into the job market in the absence of adequate skills and knowhow.

We do not have much time to waste now. Whoever that will run this country in future please put aside all your racial and religious ideological wars and devote your whole beings to the country’s educational development.

We must encourage our youths to pursue their tertiary education, and systematically train our young talents if we want to see hope in this country.