Time to teach good values

PUTRAJAYA: More time will be allocated towards instilling good values in students in school time­tables.

Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik (pic) said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pointed out the lack of civics education when he saw the timetables of both primary and secondary school students.

“He stressed on the need for civics education and the inculcation of good values in our students starting from preschool until university level,” he told The Star in an interview.

Dr Maszlee said that this was how Dr Mahathir planned to combat corruption among Malaysians.

He said that the Prime Minister had requested to see the timetables about two weeks ago before he visited Japan.

Dr Mahathir, he added, shared his vision of wanting to see Malaysians be like the Japanese.

“Hard working, highly disciplined, they all have good manners, they don’t steal, they don’t take other people’s money.

Positive steps: Dr Maszlee is working on Dr Mahathir’s vision of grooming more civic-minded individuals.

“All the ‘bersih, cekap, amanah’ (clean, efficient, trustworthy) kind of things, he said he really wants Malaysians to embrace these values,” said Dr Maszlee.

“He wants me to continue his struggle,” he said, referring to Dr Mahathir’s efforts to inculcate these values when he was the Education Minister between 1974 and 1977.

Dr Maszlee added that the “good values manual” is part of his plan as the current Education Minister to bring to life Dr Mahathir’s vision.

The manual, which will be read out at school assemblies once every two weeks, is meant to instil good moral values in students from preschool until tertiary level.

Dr Maszlee said on Tuesday that schools would roll out anti-graft related education to youngsters through the Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) subject.

He said corruption would not be a subject on its own but be incorporated as a topic in the syllabus of the CCE, which would be reintroduced in all primary and secondary schools from the middle of next year, adding that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has provided the ministry with the proposed anti-graft syllabus.

On another matter, Dr Maszlee said that the ministry would formulate a new curriculum, expected to be rolled out by the end of 2020 or early 2021.

The new curriculum would be implemented in stages and based on recommendations by the Education Ministry’s policy committee and National Education Advisory Council.