PETALING JAYA: Former health ministry officials and educationists have urged the government to consider strengthening topics on health in the school curriculum to ensure preparedness for epidemics such as Covid-19.
Speaking to FMT, they acknowledged that lessons on health issues were already in the curriculum but they said topics on infectious diseases could be expanded so that students could learn of their dangers and how to react to them.
Dr S Subramaniam, who was the health minister from 2013 to 2018, said health topics in the curriculum were prepared jointly by the health and education ministries.
He said it was perhaps time to expand the topics pertaining to infectious diseases to emphasise the threats posed by pandemics.
“Covid-19 can be used as an example,” he added.
A recent report by EdSurge Inc, an educational technology company, said some schools in the US had tweaked their curricula to include issues related to Covid-19.
Dr Mohd Ismail Merican, the health director-general from 2005 to 2011, said he expected the Covid-19 crisis to last for a long time and it would therefore be good to make teachers and students well versed with the situation.
Sarawak’s assistant minister of education, science and technological research, Dr Annuar Rapaee, said most Malaysians did not fully understand how a virus spreads and teaching about communicable diseases could help the younger generation manage disinformation about them.
He suggested that topics on personal hygiene be enhanced as well, especially in kindergartens.
He said the country should emulate Japan, where many schools are known to provide ample hand-washing facilities. He also noted that some Japanese schools require students and teachers to put on footwear resembling bedroom slippers when entering classes.
Johan Ariffin Samad, a former CEO of Sabah’s Institute for Development Studies, said improving personal hygiene and taking distancing measures would now have to become second nature.
He said schools should go through standardised protocols at their scheduled assemblies and also teach about Covid-19 so that students would know how to face future epidemics.
“We will encounter many new diseases and it’s good to impress on school children the need to improve their personal hygiene,” he said.
The chairman of the Parent Action Group for Education, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, said Covid-19 could be a topic of discussion in science classes.
But she said she doubted that teachers would be equipped to teach about the new virus because not much is known about it. Students could end up more confused, she added.
“In the end,” she said, “it’s all about good hygiene, which is not rocket science.” - FMT
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