PARIS: The Education Ministry is collaborating with the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to carry out a pilot project aimed at addressing disciplinary issues in schools.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said five schools in the country will be selected for the pilot project, under the Preventing Violent Extremism Through Education programme, which will be carried out in a span of three years beginning next year.
He said through the collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), the ministry hoped to come up with a holistic solution to problematic students involved in disciplinary, bully and gangsterism.
He said besides Malaysia, four other countries namely India, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kenya had been selected by MGIEP to carry out programme.
"Through the programme, students will be trained to develop competencies of Critical Inquiry, Empathy, Compassion, and Mindfulness aimed at addressing violence behaviour.
"For a start, Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh, Perak has volunteered to be part of the pilot project while the remaining four other schools will be selected by the ministry," he told reporters at the the 39th Unesco general assembly here.
He said the matter was decided during his meeting with the MGEIP director Dr Anantha K Duraiappah at the sidelined of the assembly.
Mahdzir added that through the collaboration, MGEIP would help to identify the problem statement and correlation between the students, schools and the environment surrounding, to the disciplinary issue and violence act in schools.
"We will study findings from the pilot project and if the method used in the programme is suitable in addressing the issue, we will adopt it into our education system.
"This is just one of the initiatives undertaken by the ministry but at the same time we are also looking into other methods to address the issue," he said.
Mahdzir said Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman administrators and an officer from the ministry had attended a workshop for the programme which was held at its headquarters in New Delhi in August where they were briefed on the programme.
It was reported in August that the ministry had identified a total of 402 schools nationwide as hotspots for disciplinary and drugs problems.
Meanwhile, Mahdzir also received a courtesy visit from Pakistan Education and Professional Training minister Muhammad Baligh-Ur-Rahman at the sidelined of the Unesco general assembly where they had exchanged ideas on education and technical training in both countries.