KUALA LUMPUR - A total of 913 teens, some as young as 13, tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) from 2018 to 2022, said Malaysia’s Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

The STDs included syphilis, gonorrhoea, chancroid and HIV, said Ms Fadhlina. The information was provided by the country’s Health Ministry.

“Based on the notification of the Health Ministry, STD among 13- to 17-year-old students showed 255 cases were recorded in 2018, whereas in 2019, a total of 225 STD cases were recorded,” she said in a written reply to Kapar MP Hajar Halimah Ali in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

There was a total of 191 STDs cases in 2020, said Ms Fadhlina, adding that there were 96 such cases in 2021 and 146 such cases in 2022.

Some 3 per cent of students who took urine tests in 2019 tested positive for drugs, she said.

In 2020, Ms Fadhlina said that the percentage fell to 2.16 per cent, while no urine test was conducted in 2021 due to home-based teaching and learning.

“In 2022, a total of 1.18 per cent of students who underwent urine tests were positive while, as of September this year, a total of 0.64 per cent tested positive,” she said, adding that the urine tests were carried out by the Education Ministry and the National Anti-Drug Agency.

Meanwhile, the number of school dropouts showed a decreasing trend over the past five years between 2018 and 2022, said Ms Fadhlina.

The percentage of school dropouts fell from 1.21 per cent in 2018 to 0.99 per cent in 2022, she said.

In 2022, 4.6 per cent of the total number of dropouts were involved in negative activities, while 4.53 per cent were recorded as at September this year.

Based on the Student Discipline System, Ms Fadhlina said that such activities include bullying, truancy, smoking, obscene behaviour and mischief. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK