Ministry to alert students on dangers of IS

Deputy education minister says apart from police and other security agencies, the ministry will be providing information to students on the dangers of terrorist ideology.

MUAR: The Education Ministry will be working with the police to provide information to students on the dangers of terrorist ideology and the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Deputy Education Minister II Chong Sin Woon said for the time being, most of the guidance were in the form of talks conducted by police and other security agencies at various places including schools.

“Together with the police and security forces, we will start disseminating information in schools this year,” he told reporters after visiting Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Pu Nan, Bukit Bakri, today.

Chong was commenting on efforts of the ministry to curb students from being easily influenced by terrorist ideology, especially IS.

On December 31, a Malaysian student in Egypt became the first student to be charged at the Sessions Court in Sepang for supporting the terrorist group, al-Qaeda.

In another development, Chong told parents whose children received damaged textbooks, to complain to the school or to the ministry for replacements to be made, which was a better move than complaining on social websites.

Chong said the process of replacement would be easier as the ministry had put in place a mechanism to process textbook replacements.

He was commenting on a report by a Chinese daily that highlighted the disappointment of some parents on the poor quality of textbooks received.

Meanwhile, 1,673 new teachers would be posted to 1,296 SJKC’s nationwide to overcome the lack of teachers on January 18.

Chong said the problem of teacher shortage at SJKC’s almost every year affected teaching and lessons in such schools.

– BERNAMA