RECENTLY, Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik called for love, happiness and mutual respect to be nurtured as the three core values in charting the new direction of the national education system. The minister sees this as an extension of two of the challenges in Vision 2020, namely strengthening unity and fostering a caring society.
While mutual respect has always been a key ingredient in the country’s bid to maintain and promote national cohesion and unity at all levels, love and happiness have not been directly stated as the responsibility of schools or of teachers and educators.