14,000 straight-A students but ‘fading interest in science stream’

 Health minister calls for reigniting interest to ensure a steady stream of graduates entering the medical field.

Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad visiting a health check-up stall at a health carnival in Kota Bharu today. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

 Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad says he is concerned about the declining interest in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics stream and its impact on the supply of medical students.

Dzulkefly today said that despite more than 14,000 students securing straight A’s at the 2024 SPM examination, there has been a noticeable decline in interest in the science stream.

“This is a cause for concern as medical majors are from the science stream,” he said according to Bernama.

“I hope that we can reignite interest among these 14,000 students. This is crucial to ensure that the health ministry’s human resource challenges are effectively addressed,” he said in Kota Bharu.

He also urged the education ministry and the science, technology and innovation ministry to motivate and encourage students to choose the science stream.

Education ministry statistics for 2021 show a huge gap in the number of schoolchildren pursuing humanities and those pursuing technical subjects.

A total of 42,257 students were enrolled in Upper Form 6 humanities classes in 2019, compared with 4,877 in the science stream. The number of science students dropped in 2020 to 3,853. - FMT