Holistic Strategies to Resolve Student Dropout Issues: A Systematic Literature Review

The problem of student dropout in the Malaysian education system is not a new topic, but this issue has become much more severe in the case of the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There is a critical rise in the dropout level both at primary and secondary school levels. This question has to be studied profoundly, and a more extended strategic plan has to be developed to help treat this issue. The study was carried out as a systematic literature review aiming to determine (i) the problems of the student dropout condition along with (ii) the comprehensive strategies that were discussed and proposed by past researchers. A review study was conducted as per the PRISMA method (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) on three databases, namely Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Among 176 published studies from 2019 to 2023, 22 articles were retrieved. These were selected on the basis of certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results indicated that student dropout is subject to a variety of factors associated with the students, students’ parents, teachers, and authorities. The research also presents different holistic ways of doing something to stop the student dropout problem. The results are likely to help educators plan relevant actions depending on deeper strategies that can be aligned towards ensuring that the rate of dropout is low among students who are of different diversities.

Issues, Dropout, Student, Strategies, Holistic

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