PETALING JAYA: Around 20% of those who sat for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2022 are expected to become p-hailing delivery riders this year,says Malaysian P-Hailing Riders’ Association vice-president Abdul Hakim Abdul Rani.
Abdul Hakim said that the increase would be due to the current continuous economic pressures faced by Malaysians, causing many SPM holders to seek quick work to help their families, reported Malay daily Utusan Malaysia on Sunday (June 18).
“It is the parent's responsibility to ensure their kids get a good education, but SPM holders may now be more aware of the financial struggle of their family," he said.
“With the current situation as it is, I'm sure we will see an increase of around 20% of registrations for p-hailing as we don’t even know how badly some of their financial situations are demotivating many from continuing their studies,” added Abdul Hakim.
The daily also listed the inability of some school leavers to bear the cost of further education and the false assumption that graduate salaries are similar to those who do not continue their studies as additional factors causing the decline of SPM holders in tertiary education.
Citing an unnamed source, the daily wrote that statistics showed 35.16% or 115,939 of SPM 2020 holders and 48.74% or 180,680 of the total SPM 2021 holders did not continue their studies after their final school exams.
The daily had also previously reported on June 1 that more than 458,000 SPM holders were estimated not to further their studies in the next three years
On Feb 17, the Statistics Department of Malaysia (DOSM) reported that a recent study found that 39.54% of 6,657 interviewed p-hailing workers had a SPM-level or equivalent education
The study also found that 23.24% had diplomas or equivalent, 11.79% were bachelor degree holders, 0.99% didn’t have academic qualifications and 0.21% did not attend school.
Of the 6,657 p-hailing workers, 97.71% were youths aged between 15 to 30, while the remaining 2.29% cent were senior citizens aged 60 and above.
