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Good practice Imported

SiPKPM — Malaysia's AI-Enhanced Student Tracking System for Early Dropout Detection

Malaysia · Putrajaya · See the Malaysia profile · See the Putrajaya profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 40% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Malaysia's Ministry of Education added AI to its Student Tracking System (SiPKPM) in 2024 to flag at-risk students from primary to secondary school; by February 2025 only 8,076 candidates were absent for the SPM exam, down from 'tens of thousands' previously.

8,076
SPM candidates absent for all written papers (2024 cohort, as of 6 Feb 2025) (2024 SPM cohort)
18
Forms of assistance available to at-risk students
SiPKPM — Malaysia's AI-Enhanced Student Tracking System for Early Dropout Detection

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Education Malaysia
Period
2024–2025
Keywords
K-12 education, student tracking, dropout prevention, public administration

Context

Malaysia's Ministry of Education has long run SiPKPM (Student Tracking System) to identify students who have dropped out or are at risk of doing so, from primary through secondary school. In 2024 the ministry enhanced the system with AI.

Objectives

To help teachers and school leaders detect at-risk students earlier for timely intervention, reducing dropout and exam absenteeism.

Activities

The AI enhancement was added to the existing SiPKPM system in 2024. Flagged students can access one of 18 forms of assistance the ministry offers, including financial aid, coordinated through the Ministry of Education together with state Education Departments and district education offices.

Results

The ministry reported that absenteeism among Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam candidates fell from 'tens of thousands' historically to 8,076 candidates absent for all written papers as of 6 February 2025, for the 2024 SPM cohort.

Conclusions

No published evaluation isolates the AI component's contribution from the ministry's other concurrent interventions, so the reported absentee decline cannot be attributed to the AI enhancement alone. The parliamentary briefing did not disclose the underlying model, its accuracy, or any bias testing across regions or student demographics.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Enhancement to an existing national tracking system; specific budget not disclosed.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — AI enhancement added in 2024; absenteeism figures reported for the 2024 SPM cohort as of February 2025.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Education Malaysia central staff, state Education Departments, district education offices, school teachers and leaders acting on the flags

Conditions for success

  • integration with existing national student-tracking infrastructure (SiPKPM)
  • a menu of concrete follow-up interventions (18 forms of assistance, including financial aid) for flagged students
  • coordination across ministry, state and district levels

Common failure modes

  • no isolated evaluation of the AI component's contribution versus other concurrent interventions
  • underlying model, its accuracy and any bias/fairness testing not disclosed publicly

Where it fits

Governance type
central ministry with state/district delivery
Scale
national, primary through secondary
Income level
upper-middle income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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