By Amar Shah Mohsen
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — The Education Ministry will study the feasibility of holding internal elections among students in the selection of school prefects.
Its Deputy Minister Lim Hui Ying said this in response to the suggestion by Indera Mahkota MP Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah, who said that such a move would provide early exposure to school students on election processes.
“That is a very good proposal. We will review this and I thank you (for the suggestion),” Lim said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Earlier, Saifuddin said efforts to improve political literacy among school children should include practical measures similar to the campus elections conducted in universities.
“I’m not suggesting that school students conduct the elections themselves, but we should study to see the possibility of electing prefects.
“In fact, secondary school prefects in the past were not chosen by the teachers, but through elections. Some convent schools did this.
“We can study past experiences. This is to ensure there are no cases of youths seeing a ballot box for the first time when they turn 18,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lim said the Education Ministry has taken several measures to improve pupils’ political literacy as early as primary school.
Among others, she said part of the History curriculum focuses on skills, knowledge and values related to political studies, with the aim of building students’ character to be able to do critical thinking and make rational decisions.
