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Civics education - a responsibility for all

Bernama
Published 12 Dec 2019, 11:20 pm
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Civics education, which has been reintroduced in all schools nationwide since June,
has become the talk of the town, in terms of its effectiveness and implementation.

In August, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad launched the national-level Civics

Education 2019 initiative, aimed at creating a society and individuals who are
responsible, caring and considerate of others.
Education Minister Maszlee Malik (photo), in turn, has explained that civics
education in school is aimed at teaching children to know their rights,
responsibilities and moral values so that as citizens, they can contribute to the
well-being of society, the nation and the world.

Education Ministry's principal assistant director (co-curricular and arts division),

Mohd Rashid Mean said the application of civics values is not limited to the
classroom.

He said it also covers practices at home and other places, which is why the
imparting of such values is not the responsibility of one institution alone, but also
the responsibility of all parties involved.

In line with this, parents and communities play an important role in ensuring
children embrace those values at school - guidance from parents and communities
also serve to assist teachers when they impart civics education to students, he said.

“For instance, when we drive and encounter other motorists driving recklessly,
look at the words we utter.

“We are watched by our children, and they will follow suit. That's why parents need
to be good examples to their children,” he said in an interview with Bernama Radio
recently.

Mohd Rashid said civics education in schools mainly focuses on current issues
such as road safety, saying no to corruption, the dangers of bullying and
environmental pollution, adding that these topics will be updated every year
based on current needs.

Civics is taught for one hour on every fourth week of the month in schools, during
the Bahasa Malaysia, English, Islamic Studies, Moral and History periods, while
children in preschools are taught for 30 minutes.

In addition, nationhood and social-emotional aspects of citizenship and actions

are embedded into school assemblies, co-curricular activities and other school
programmes.
Noriah Harun, deputy director of Islamic education at the ministry, who was also
interviewed by Bernama Radio, believes that a multiracial school needs to have
one central point of unity which can bring students closer together, and this can
be found in civics education.

"Communities should play an important role in imparting good values to children

through civic practices as not all children come from strong family institutions,"
she said.- Bernama

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Comments

All Comments11


Enlighten
3 months ago

It won't work when

the mind of the
Education Minister
and his officers are
racist and evil.
Nothing civic in
pushing Islamic
and Ketuanan
Melayu to Non
Muslim students.
Share 

Anonymous_1552707885
3 months ago

Do civic education
include inside our
Parliment?
Everytime we see a
debate going on,
we only see
hooliganism
especially from the
opposition's.
Share 

Kangkung
3 months ago

This hand picked

education minister
by Mahathir is
constantly making
inconsequential
changes to the
education while
totally ingnoring the
big issues plaguing
education in
Bolehland. God
knows how many
letters and articles
have written about
the rot in our
education system
but he chose to
ignore all of them.
He said he wants to
lessen teachers'
burden and now he
adds Civics
education on top of
the Moral education
which is a total
waste of time. Stop
all the
brainwashing in
schools and focus
on critical thinking
skills. Schools
should be made
into indoctrination
centers.
Share 

Newday
3 months ago

Again, one of those

Authorless
propaganda articles
- as a news outlet
is this right to
promote articles in
this fashion?
Anyway, back to
the subject. When I
read the opening
paragraph about
Civics becoming
the "talk of the
town" to my wife,
she replied : "which
town?". We
laughed heartedly.
She keeps up on all
social media
platforms and
assures me that
Civics is not "the
talk of the town". I
believe her. While
the principal of
Civics is sound, I