Three civil society organisations have joined hands in drawing up a programme with the aim of empowering parents to cope with the "alarming" problem of school dropouts.

The programme, entitled "Ibubapa Memastikan Peningkatan Akademik Anak" (Impak), will allow the organisations to work with parents to increase their involvement with their children’s academic studies and help in their learning process from home.

Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM), Tamil Foundation and Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the concept of Impak originated from a programme known as "Parents Assuring Students Success" in the United States.

Tamil Foundation introduced it to Malaysia in 2010 and promoted it at Tamil primary schools, benefiting more than 6,000 parents in the past five years.

The programme has been rewritten and translated into Mandarin and Malay, said GBM chairperson Tan Yew Sing said.

The group is approaching a number of schools, including Chinese independent schools and national secondary schools (SMK), to bring the module to the Chinese and Malay communities.

Serious social problem

Citing a survey from the United Chinese Schools Teachers' Association (Jiao Zong) in 2003, Tan said once they enter secondary schools, many Chinese primary school students tend to face problems learning Bahasa Malaysia.

He added that due to language barrier these students often opted to leave school and the dropout rate was as high as 24 percent.

"When we enter the government schools, especially the remove classes, the dropout rate is high. This is a language issue.

"Where do these people go (after leaving school)? This is a serious social problem," he warned.

However, Tan said he saw a different scenario at Impak workshop.

Sharing his experience after visiting the workshop, he pointed out that many of them have problems in their families such as parents in prison, and problems related to consumption of alcohol or drug abuse.

"They are potential gang members," Tan said.

However, he added, the children became positive and polite after attending the course and this has prompted the group to extend the workshop to other communities.

Lack of interest in studies

Citing another study by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), the group said 0.8 percent or 3,920 students dropped out before Grade 6 in 2013, while another 2.9 percent or 14,396 students dropped out before the secondary level.

The reasons for dropout include lack of interest in studies, difficulty in catching up with class progress and study environment which is not conducive.

Impak programme comes in 10 units which include parents’ attitude, home environment, study skills, helping children prepare for tests, reading skills and financial management.

The group has also set up a Concerned Student Dropouts Committee and will start its first training of trainers session to train counsellors, teachers, ex-teachers and students from teaching institutes to be volunteers.

Those who are interested can contact the GBM secretariat for an application form and e-mail it to infogpoam@gmail.com before the end of this year.