Poverty Forces Two Out of Nine Children to Quit School

The hardship of a family in Pahang forces two out of nine children of rubber tapper to quit school and the other four will have the same fate if the situation become worse. The head of the poor family said that he couldn't afford to send six children to school. He then decided to pull out two of them from school after failing to get help. This is considered a sacrifice by the family in order to let the other four children will have to quit school as well. This sad story has gained the attention of the Ministry of Education which has contributed school uniforms and textbooks to them. The government has also decided to give the four children scholarships and the monthly allowance of RM300 which will soon be given to the family.

1. Define scarcity, choice and opportunity cost.

(2 marks)

2. Based on article, identify the problem of scarcity faced by this family, the choice that they had, and the opportunity cost incurred from the decision made.

(5 marks)

3. The allowance, the books and the school uniforms could certainly help alleviate the problem faced by this family. Does it mean that scarcity does not exist anymore? Why?

(8 marks)