Drop in number of science students
Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, the Deputy Education Minister, had told the media earlier this year that the number of students opting for pure science subjects had dropped by 29% and those opting for both science had mathematics had fallen by 31%.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the Education Minister was also unhappy to notice the trend and said that the ministry had set up a target of 60% enrollment in science subjects. He was worried to see that this target was not being achieved and there were less than 20% students opting for science subjects.
The Deputy Prime Minister also met students appearing for SPM examination at Ampang on Tuesday morning and said, "We found that many students are interested in Science subjects but there are no follow-ups probably due to lack of support from parents as well as lack of appropriate facilities in schools."
Incentives for science students
To arrest this trend, the Education Ministry has come up with the idea of offering monetary incentives to both students and parents so as to popularize science among the youth. While the enrolling students will give facilities like free books and grants for their studies, the parents will be given tax breaks.
Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, the Higher Education Minister, had also expressed concern earlier over the lack of popularity of science subjects among the younger lot by observing that fostering interest in science is necessary to "improve technological innovations to make Malaysia a high income country".
Source: Incentive to study science