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Classes for juvenile prisoners



KAJANG: The Education Ministry will work with the Prisons Department to enable juveniles behind bars to continue with their studies and sit for public examinations.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said juvenile prisoners currently had no access to education programmes other than what was carried out by non-governmental organisations.

“We want to ensure that everyone has access to education,” he told reporters yesterday after opening a national seminar on student disciplinary regulations.

Hishammuddin said he would also discuss the matter with Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow.

“What we need is some space so we can send teachers into the prisons to teach juveniles,” he said.

More details would be announced in early January, he added.

On another matter, Hishammuddin said the disciplinary regulations being used in schools now were drafted under Education Ordinance 1957.

“There have been no changes since then. Based on the rapid development and the changes in student disciplinary problems, it is appropriate that new regulations be drafted,” he said.

The ministry had come up with a draft of new regulations after carefully studying various other legislation, including the Children’s Act and the Dangerous Drugs Act, and obtaining the views of the community, he said.

“We hope the draft can be further fine-tuned into a comprehensive mechanism,” he said.

He said that, based on statistics from 2002 to 2006, the number of students involved in crime stood at 0.02%, which could be considered low.

“But however small the number, it still means we have a problem which must be overcome,” he added.

According to Hishammuddin, the ministry has recorded an overall drop in disciplinary cases among students.

A comparison between January to June last year and the corresponding period this year showed a percentage point decrease of 0.15% to 1.13% this year, he added.

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