148 Lorraine Pe Symaco
However, challenging circumstances in rural areas seem to affect access
rather than retention. This point can be seen in Table 6.1 which presents
drop-out rates for schools located in rural and urban areas during the
1998–2004 period. Although there is some variation across years and for
different grade (or year) levels, the overall picture shows that drop-out is
a bigger problem in urban areas than rural areas. That is, for the smaller
percentage of rural children who make it into primary school there is a
somewhat lower percentage that drop out before completing the six years.
Ethnic Group Membership
Ethnic group membership is a factor affecting access and retention. Chinese
followed by Indians continue to have higher educational attainment and
socio-economic status than Malays (Brown 2011; Khalid 2011). However,
the historical differences in primary school access and retention among
TABLE 6.1
Dropout Rates in Rural and Urban Government Schools, 1998–2004 (%)Rural 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Years 1–2
Years 2–3
Years 3–4
Years 4–5
Years 5–6
–0.7
0.3
–0.6
0.4
–2.2–1.1
–0.2
–1.5
0.0
–1.70.4
0.7
–0.1
–0.2
–1.5–0.7
–0.3
–1.2
–0.8
–2.1–0.6
–0.2
–0.5
–0.8
–2.2–0.1
0.6
–0.2
–0.1
–1.40.6
0.3
–0.1
–0.2
–0.8
% of total loss at primary
level (rural) –3.9 –3.7 –1.2
Urban 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Years 1–2
Years 2–3
Years 3–4
Years 4–5
Years 5–6
–1.2
–0.5
–1.2
0.7
–1.2–1.6
–0.9
–3.5
0.2
–2.0–0.1
–0.4
–0.8
1.6
–0.8–0.5
–0.4
–1.6
–0.5
–1.2–1.3
–1.2
–0.9
–1.3
–1.3–2.5
0.3
0.1
–0.1
0.0–0.5
–0.3
–0.2
–0.5
–0.4
% of total loss at primary
level (urban) –4.7 –4.8 –1.9
Source: United Nations, Malaysia, 2011.