Education Ministry will detail out "hygiene education series" involving students cleaning toilets in school

SHAH ALAM - Education Ministry to look further into implementation of students participating in a hygiene education series in schools.

Its minister Fadhlina Sidek said the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim suggestion would have an impact and added value to the students as a whole.

"I welcome the Prime Minister's suggestion that students be involved in the hygiene education series at school," she said on Twitter today.

Fadhlina added that field trips and work visits at schools also involved checking the status of cleanliness and toilet or bathroom maintenance.

On Saturday, Anwar made a remark that most of the toilets in schools in the country were not well maintained and ordered the ministry to inspect school bathrooms to ensure students had access to clean comfortable facilities.

Anwar was also quoted that children should be taught how to clean bathrooms from young, adding that many of them from rich backgrounds had no respect no concern for the daily hardships of the lower income groups have to face.

This, he had said, was not something his Malaysia Madani concept would tolerate.

He had said children of all ages and backgrounds could learn to appreciate what the common man does if they were made to clean bathrooms at home or at school.

“Kids must be taught to learn to clean bathrooms to learn what humility and good values are. If they’re taught so they will appreciate the work their moms or public lavatory workers do, they will know its difficulties.

“This was practised during my time when I was the minister of education. Even then I faced resistance when an upper class professional family wrote a telegram to me protesting their kids cleaning toilets. They said their kid was there to study, not clean toilets.

“See the mentality? Education is about respecting people, even those cleaning toilets.

“If our kids are taught this then they will learn to appreciate people and the hard work they do. And for those kids who don’t want to comply with the rules, so be it; they will be barred from using the school bathrooms,” Anwar said while opening the Selera Madani food court at Jalan Jujur, Bandar Tun Razak yesterday afternoon.