Casino employment blames for high school dropout in
Macau
24/2/2005
Macau's education authorities have observed a sharp fall in the
number of students in high schools, and held an increasing number
of casinos to blame for the serious dropout phenomenon.
According to the latest figures from the Education and Youth
Affairs Bureau, there were 95,485 students enrolled in Macau's 89
schools offering compulsory education in the new semester, which
indicated a loss of 2,777 students over the corresponding period of
last year.
Sou Chio Fai, director of the bureau was quoted by Thursday's Macau
Daily acknowledging high school dropout problem was the primary
cause to the decrease in addition to the dwindling number of birth
rate.
The bureau estimated that some hundreds high school students left
school to pursue jobs in casinos last year, when four casinos came
on stream offering thousands of job opportunities.
Teachers in Macau held that it was a foreseeable result that the
students were wooed by "fast-earning" money in casinos, since the
government has designated the gaming industry as the city's
economic backbone. However, they advised the students to take a
more prudent thought, because it would more difficult to obtain an
on-the-job training or advanced education after students walk into
society than studying in school.
Currently, 56,008 students in school are enjoying compulsory
education free of charges, which cost 425 million patacas (US$53
million) of the Macau Special Administrative Region (
SAR)government's budget last year.
