



Turning Around Negative Attitudes
Toward Human Rights Through
Human Rights Education
Chiam Heng KengTo many Malaysians, human rights are western values and are antithesis to
Asian values because the former give importance to the individual while thelatter to community. Furthermore, there is the perception that upholding
human rights necessitates pampering to the wants of the individuals. With these
two beliefs of human rights, it is not unexpected that the attitudes towards humanrights of those in authority–in both the private and public sectors–parents and thesociety at large are generally negative. But, increasingly people, especially the vulnerable groups, are appreciating human rights as they provide them with leverage
for a better quality of life.
In the early days of its existence, the Human
Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM)
met with great resistance in its attempts topromote and protect human rights. In addition to “human rights” being an alien term to
the vast majority of the people, the difficulty
in precisely defining “human rights” added tothe bewilderment and roused negative attitudes
toward human rights. These people failed torealize that no matter what are their attitudes
toward human rights, their fundamental rights
and freedoms (such as equal justice before thelaw, freedom of worship, freedom of movement,
non-discrimination on account of one’s gender,race or religion and the right to vote) are guaranteed in the Federal Constitution. More thanseven years into SUHAKAM’s existence and its
promotional efforts, awareness of human rights
is much higher but there are many sectors of the
population who are either not pro-human-rights

or lacking in knowledge and understanding of
human rights.
Teachers, school administrators, education
officers and parents are wary of human rights,
especially the rights of the child. Raising awareness of human rights among them is not easy.
However, they have to be cognizant of the rightsof the child as Malaysia had signed and ratified
the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
17 February 1995. This Convention is one thefive United Nations human rights instruments
acceded to by Malaysia. Since the Commission
is mandated by the Human Rights Commissionof Malaysia Act 1999 (Act 597) to promote andprotect the rights of people in Malaysia, it has totake up the challenge of making sure children are
not denied of their rights to survival, protection,
development and participation.

  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Human Rights Education in School
From its early days, SUHAKAM had maintained that a human rights culture is vital for
the wellbeing of the people in Malaysia and theschool is the best place for the development of
this culture. To achieve this objective, humanrights education has to become a part of theschool curriculum, not as a subject but for it
to be integrated into various subjects to inculcate human rights values which include nondiscrimination, justice and respect for others.
Human rights education should not be reduced
to a mere subject to an already overburdened
curriculum and furthermore human rights values permeate all school subjects. In addition,
human rights education should encompass thelearning and practice of human rights, implyingthat human rights are to be taught through content and experiences and with opportunities todevelop and practice the skills to respect humanrights. In other words, human rights education
should not only be theoretical but should also
be incorporated into school life to practice
non-discrimination, promote justice, respect therule of law and resolve interpersonal conflicts
through non-violent and non-psychologically
harmful means.
The Sub-Working Group on Human
Rights Education in School, a committee in
the Promotion and Education Working Groupin SUHAKAM, was formed in 2001. The following year, Tan Sri Musa Mohammad, then the
Minister of Education, agreed to nominate three
representatives from the Ministry to sit on thisSub-Working Group - a representative each fromthe Curriculum Development Centre, School
Division and Teacher Education Division. The
other members of the Sub-Working Group
include three academics from three different
public universities and three non-governmentalorganization (NGO) representatives.
In spite of having three representatives from
the Ministry of Education on the Sub-Working
Group, the support of the various DirectorsGeneral of Education, the involvement of

SUHAKAM in training master teachers for theschool subjects, “Moral Education” and “Civics
and Citizenship”, SUHAKAM encounteredresistance and had great difficulty in making
inroads into the acceptance of human rights
education in school. Resistance came in very
subtle forms such as non-cooperation and redtape.
A two-pronged approach was used toovercome the negative attitudes toward human rights and to break through the barrierof resistance. The first approach was to devise
a way to open the door for human rights and
SUHAKAM to be known in schools. An art
competition on human rights could provide a
non-threatening entry for human rights into
schools and an indirect way for children to learn
about human rights. This tactic appeared to beeffective because 4,434 entries were received in
the first art competition which was launchedin 2003. For subsequent art competitions, theSchool Division gave its full cooperation andwas represented in the panel of judges. However, the novelty of art competition weaned among
schools and students. Only seven hundred fifty
entries were received in the art competition in2006. The withdrawal of the “school with themost entries” award from the 2006 competition
also contributed to the reduction.
In view of the declining interest in the art
competition on human rights, a competitionon the best human rights practice in school
was organized in its stead in 2007. This change
in the competition was also due to the Plan of
Action for the World Programme for Human
Rights Education, First Phase (2005-2007)1
which focuses on the integration of humanrights education into the primary and secondary
school curriculums. The Sub-Working Group on
Human Rights Education for Schools agreed
that a competition of this nature would fulfil
the aim of the Plan of Action as well as promote
the development and practice of skills to respecthuman rights and citizenship.
The second approach taken by SUHAKAM
was to break down the resistance through dem-Turning Around Negative Attitudes Toward Human Rights

onstration of the relevance of human rights
to one’s life and to schools. As the education
system in Malaysia is highly centralized andtop-down, the breaking down of the resistance
was targeted at senior officers in the Ministry of
Education and State Department of Education.
This resistance-breakdown onslaught beganwith a National Conference on Human Rights
Education in School held on 1-2 March 2004
with a keynote speech by the Director-Generalof Education. Twelve officers from the Ministryof Education, forty-one officers from the State
Department of Education and sixty headmasters, principals and senior teachers attended theConference. A workshop for participants todiscuss specific education policies pertaining to
the rights of the child was part of the Conference
program. Acting on the participants’ recommendation that the workshop be conducted at thestate level, SUHAKAM organized workshops
on the relevance of human rights education insix zones, namely North, East Coast, Central,
South, Sabah and Sarawak. These workshops
succeeded in turning around the participants’attitudes toward human rights.

Turning around negative attitudes towards
human rights
The subject, “Moral Education” for secondary schools has human rights as one of the areas.
Hence, SUHAKAM was invited to conduct thehuman rights component in the training formaster trainers of this subject. SUHAKAM wasalso involved in the training of master trainersof Civics and Citizenship. These master trainers
displayed neither positive nor negative attitude
towards human rights although they liked theparticipatory activities involving case study androle play. This attitude could be due to theiracceptance of human rights as a component of
their subject.
More than a decade after acceding to theConvention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
only six percent of the teachers and seven

percent of the school administrators had beenbriefed on this convention (Human Rights
Commission of Malaysia, 2006).2 In short, thevast majority of the teachers, school administrators and education officers had no notion of therights of the child. Secondly, almost all of themhad the perception that the rights of the childrefer to what the child wants. Consequently,
they were very apprehensive of the CRC.
Thirdly, discipline or rather lack of discipline isa serious problem in many schools and teachers
have a hard time in managing misdemeanour.
A number of bad publicity due to the mishandling of discipline problems added to teachers’
and school administrators’ qualm to accede tochildren their rights.
Against this scenario, the task of promoting
awareness of human rights and human rights
education in school was expectedly an arduous
one. Though the attitudes of the participantsof the National Conference on Human Rights
Education were positive, the response to the
SUHAKAM’s invitation to the Workshop on
Human Rights and their Relevance in School
was, at best, cool. Much persuasion was needed.
The majority of the participants came to theWorkshop with great reluctance while others
found ways to avoid coming to it.
In all the Workshops conducted in the six
zones, the initial reluctance gave way to interestin human rights for most of the participants.
The Workshop brought a change in their perception of the significance of human rights and theimportance of understanding the child’s rights
in at least ninety percent of the participants.
In one of the zones, all the participants (onehundred percent) indicated that the Workshop
had helped them understand human rights, therights of the child and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This exposure
seemed to whet their appetite for more as they
requested for more complete and comprehensive information on the CRC and the UDHR
or for longer workshops to enable them havean in-depth understanding of the CRC.
They also would like others, especially par-  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

ents, community leaders, teachers and students,
to be given similar information. In the “further
comments” section in the evaluation form, theysuggested the workshop be conducted throughout the country, the information given in theworkshop be disseminated to all in the schoolcommunity, the greatly beneficial workshop to
be organized for parents, community leaders,teachers and students for them to understandhuman rights, the public to be exposed tosimilar programs and the workshop to be madeavailable to all. These suggestions indicate thatthe workshop had helped the participants realize
the importance of human rights to the wellbeingof the individual and society.
They also indicated that they would encourage their colleagues to attend similar programs
organized by SUHAKAM and would share theinformation gained at the workshop with theircolleagues. These were the responses of morethan ninety-five percent of the participants.
The desire to share their knowledge of human rights with their colleagues or workmates
was also expressed in their actions. The slide presentation on human rights and their relevanceto schools as well as the presentations of theworkshops’ discussions were copied into theirthumb-drive to help them in their presentation
to their colleagues. In addition, they enquired
whether SUHAKAM would support them interms of human resources and materials when
they conduct similar workshops in their districts
and in schools.
While the participants found the one and halfhour lecture useful as it provided an introduction to human rights, UDHR and CRC, it was
the workshop sessions (Case Study and Discussion of Educational Policies and Practices) thatconvinced them of the significance of humanrights and their relevance to their work as an
educator. Since the cases referred to real incidents, the participants were able to identify withthem and some participants had encounteredsimilar situations. Identifying the articles in the
UDHR and CRC in the workshops helped them
have a better understanding of human rights

and the rights of the child. Analysis and reflection on the educational policies and practices
to ascertain whether they promote or deny achild of his/her rights enabled the participants
to realize the importance of the CRC.
Owing to the limitation of each of thegroups to eight to twelve members and theprovision of a facilitator to provoke thinking,the issues were animatedly deliberated. The
high quality of the discussions was due to theyears of experience of the participants and theirdiverse backgrounds.
The objectives and materials used in the twoworkshop sessions are in Annexes I and II.

Conclusion
The change in attitude towards human rights
education of the participants, comprising headsof the various sections in the State Departmentof Education, district officers, senior school
administrators and senior teachers, is most encouraging. However, what needs to follow thischange is their willingness to become agents ofsocietal change by initiating transformation inschools through observance of human rights
in schools. There are numerous ways by which
they can bring about the changes. One of themis to promote human rights values to develop ahuman-rights-friendly and safe school environment.
SUHAKAM’s research on the knowledge
and practice of human rights in secondary
school found 28.8 percent3 of the teachers approving the use of ridicule to motivate students
to study. A desired outcome after studying thecase of “Why am I called ‘fatty’?” and knowing
the effects on the child’s development as wellas the violation of Article 7 of the CRC is thatteachers stop using ridicule to discipline ormotivate students to study.
The use of cane to punish misdeeds and theauthority of teachers to cane were intensely debated at almost all the six workshops. Many ofthe participants, especially the male participants,

Turning Around Negative Attitudes Toward Human Rights

were for caning the offenders which concurredwith SUHAKAM’s research that found 84.0%
of the male and 77.4 percent of the female respondents in favor of caning persistent offenders.4 While it is unlikely that the participants
will advocate for corporal punishment to beoutlawed in school, it is hoped that the case of“What wrong have I done?” will make thempause before meting out punishment because
the offender might be another Ahmad, who
throughout his life, had received harsh treatments at home and in school.
Hopefully the case of Azizah would makeparticipants reflect on the difficulties persons
with disabilities encounter in school. Insteadof washing one’s hands off by recommendingthat the disabled child be sent to a school forchildren with special needs, the school community would rally to help the disabled acquire
knowledge and be accepted as a part of theschool community.
Obviously from their responses, providing participants with genuine cases involving
violations of child rights and with platforms todiscuss policies that support or deny the childhis/her rights enabled the participants to see theneed to respect the rights of the child. Whether
this change in their attitudes toward humanrights will effect a change in behavior and produce changes in the school environment is difficult to predict. A one-and-a half-day workshop
can only provide a snapshot of human rights ingeneral and the rights of the child in particular.
SUHAKAM agrees with the participants that
longer and more workshops are needed. In the
meanwhile, it is hoped that the participants
will continue to water and nurture the seeds ofa human rights culture that had been sowed inthem in the workshops.



Annex 1
Workshop 1: Case Study
Introduction
The purpose of the first workshop was toenable participants to have a better understanding of human rights, in particular the rightsof the child, through analysis of situations thatinvolve violations of the child’s rights. To achieve this objective six case studies were extracted
from case studies carried out by educational
psychology students in the Master of Education programme at the University of Malaya
and Master in Education theses. Each group
was assigned one of the six cases and they wererequired:i) To state what are the issues in the case.
ii) To recommend the steps that can be taken
to overcome the problems identified.
iii) To identify the rights that have been violated in the case, based on the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and theConvention on the Rights of the Child.5
The Cases
The cases were written in the national
language and below are the English version of
the cases:
Case 1: “I am lonely”
My name is Azizah and I am 11 years old.
I am deaf. I am the only one in class with thisproblem. I have problem in communicatingwith my classmates because they do not know
sign language. Although the teacher writes
while she teaches, I still have difficulities inunderstanding her because I cannot hear her
explanations. My attempts to discuss my workwith my classmates are fruitless and disheartening. There is no one who understands my need.
I feel isolated and alone. I am greatly troubled
and unhappy. As a consequence, I have lostinterest in my studies.
My parents had informed the school of my  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

problem but it did not take any action to provide
me with remedial programme or with facilities
to help me. Neither had the school applied fora special education teacher.
Case 2: Why Am I Called Fatty?
Ramu, a Form 1 student, was very fat anddid not look like a Form 1 student. He was
weak in mathematics and displayed problematic behavior in the mathematics class. He wasalways moving around during the mathematics class and disturbing other students. This
habit of Ramu irritated the teacher who yelled
out instructions such as “Fatty sit down” and“Fatty stop walking around” The teacher knewthat whenever she called him “Fatty”, Ramu
would feel embarrassed and would do as she
instructed. After sometime, his classmates also
called him “Fatty” to tease him and sometimes
they placed a piece of paper with the words, “I
am Fatty” on his back without his knowledge
and then laughed at him. They bullied him inother ways such as taking his writing materials
and not returning them to him.
The name calling, teasing and bullying madeRamu felt inferior and he lost confidence inhimself. He distanced himself from his classmates and kept to himself. Ramu felt sad andalone. His academic performance dropped. He
no longer wanted to go to school and gave allkinds of reasons for wanting to stay away fromschool.
Case 3: ”What wrong have I done?”One day, Mr. Rahman, the teacher, told Ahmad who was in the canteen to go to his classas it was not breaktime. In response, Ahmad
used foul language and this made Mr. Rahman
really angry. He hauled him to the discipline
room and caned him several times until hescreamed in pain.
Though Ahmad was 15 years of age, he wassmall in size and well known for his misdeeds.
Many teachers had encountered difficulty incontrolling Ahmad as he constantly stayed awayfrom class, did not complete his homework,

disturbed other children, and so forth. Normally
he was not bothered by caning or other forms ofpunishment from teachers. Ahmad was not liked
by his classmates who had no sympathy for him
and felt that he deserved to be punished.
Mr. Rahman went to Ahmad’s house one day
to discuss with his parents his misdeeds. At thattime, Ahmad was not at home but his grandmother who was in the house told Mr. Rahman
that Ahmad was working on a construction site
nearby under the supervision of his grandfather.
Mr. Rahman was taken back at the information
and went to the construction site where hefound Ahmad dirty and appeared to be tired. He
drew near to Ahmad to enquire the whereaboutsof his parents. Ahmad explained that he had
lived with his grandparents since he was a baby
as his mother had left him because she was notable to care for him. He could not remember
when he last saw his parents who were divorced
when he was a baby. He was not liked by his
grandparents as they disapproved of his parents’marriage. His grandfather always beat him evenfor minor mistakes or misdeeds.
Ahmad had never been loved by anyone; noone seemed to understand his problems and hehad nowhere to pour out his troubles. Sadly heasked Mr. Rahman, ”What have I done wrong?
Why is there no one who loves me?”Case 4: ”Moral Teacher”
The teacher, Ms. Rosa was three-monthpregnant when she was assigned to be thereplacement teacher for a Moral Educationteacher (who was on maternity leave) since she
had only sixteen hours of teaching. When Ms.
Rosa was notified that she had to teach Moral
Education in a Form I class, she informed theheadmistress that she did not have the skills toteach moral education and moreover, she washaving morning sickness. But Ms. Rosa had nochoice as the other moral teachers had their fullteaching loads.
When Ms. Rosa first stepped into the classroom she complained that the class smell andshe could not stand the smell of coconut oil.

Turning Around Negative Attitudes Toward Human Rights

She gave the directives that the students muststop using coconut oil for their hair and in theircooking. During one of the classes, she also
informed them that she did not like black color
as it represents dirt and death.
The students in the class, especially the
Indian students, were not happy and told theirparents of the directives of Ms. Rosa. Several
parents complained to the school administratorsand the school warned the children not to create
problems in school.
Case 5: “Barbarians”
Ten-year-old Azlan was watching a documentary on an African tribe together with hisparents. At the end of the program, Azlan asked
his parents whether the tribes in Africa were likethe Jakun (an indigenous group in Malaysia)
who are ignorant, primitive, uncivilized, immoral and wear indecent attire.
His parents asked him why he had suchviews of the Jakun. Azlan explained that they
had been taught about the different races in
Malaysia, including the indigenous peoples in
Malaysia, in the Local Studies subject. Theirteacher told them that the indigenous peoples
in Malaysia are uncivilized and they live in thejungle although Malaysia is becoming a developed nation. The teacher had shown pictures of
the indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak andPeninsular Malaysia to demonstrate how primitive the indigenous peoples in Malaysia are andthese people wear indecent clothes.
In Azlan’s class , there is a student, Japit
Anak Timbangan, who belongs to one of the indigenous groups. The teacher had commended
Japit’s father for being brave to leave his family
and homeland in the jungle to work in Miri. If
he had not, Japit and his father would be livingin the jungle and indecently dressed.
Case 6: Concealed Sufferings
Julie had just returned from the clinic looking pale, weak and tired. This was the second
time that she had gone to the clinic for an abortion. Since her uncle came to stay with them,

she had been frequently raped by him. The
sexual abuse occurred because both of Julie’s
parents returned home late and sometimes they
did not come home at all because of their workand business. Julie had informed her mother of
her uncle’s sexual abuse but her mother was notwilling to make a police report because she did
not want to bring shame to the family or forthe neighbors to know of the abuse.
When her teacher asked Julie the reasonsfor her increasingly deteriorating school performance, she told her of the sexual abuse ofher uncle. At first, she was unwilling to relate
the incidences of rape because of the shame but
finally she did as she could not stand the abuse
any longer. Her teacher was shocked to hearof the sexual abuse and asked the principal’s
permission to make a police report. But the
principal was not willing. She felt if the parents
were not willing to lodge a report then theschool should not interfere
Life for Julie became increasingly stressful.
Emotionally she was disturbed. She could notconcentrate on her studies as her uncle continued with his sexual abuse. Julie thought ofcommitting suicide because only with death
could her trouble end.
Julie was only 15 years old. If she did killherself, who is responsible?

10  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Annex II
Workshop II: Discussion of Educational
Policies, Practices and Events
Introduction
Malaysia has acceded to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 17 February 1995 and this means the Government has
to ratify the CRC except for Articles 1, 2, 7,
13, 14, 15 and 37 on which Malaysia has reservations. The implications of the accession isthat our educational policies, regulations andpractices have to be in accordance with theConvention.
This workshop is for the participants to critically examine educational policies, procedures,
school practices and happenings in schools toascertain whether any of them violates the rightsof the child. The objectives of this workshopare:i) To enable participants to become aware
and understand the rights of the child asenshrined in the Convention on the Rightsof the Child (CRC);ii) To provide opportunities for participants
to discuss rights of the child that pertain to
education;iii) To recommend steps to be taken to raise
greater awareness so that the school community will heed the child’s rights.
Each group is assigned a topic which pertains to a specific right of the child. The topics
and their related activities are as follows:
Group 1: Compulsory and Free Education
Article 28 of CRC: (paraphrased)
The child has the right to education and theState is to ensure that primary education is freeand compulsory, to encourage different forms
of secondary education accessible to every childand to make higher education available to all on
the basis of capacity. School discipline shall beconsistent with the child’s rights and dignity. The
State shall engage in international cooperation to
implement this right.
Section 29A Education Act 1996 amended in
2002:(2) Every parent who is a Malaysian citizen
residing in Malaysia shall ensure that if his childhas attained the age of six years on the first day
of January of the current school year that childis enrolled as a pupil in a primary school in thatyear and remains a pupil in a primary school forthe duration of the compulsory education.
(4) A parent who contravenes subsection (2) shallbe guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be
liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six
months or to both.

Questions:i) According to the amended Education Act
1996, primary education is compulsory but
not free. Parents will be fined for failing toregister their primary school-going children
and sending them to school. Is this fair?
ii) Many are not aware that children with disabilities aged 6-12 years have also to registerand be in school. If the school administrator
does not accept a child with disabilities tostudy in the school based on the lack of facilities, has the administrator failed to comply
with the Education Act and CRC?
iii) Apart from children with disabilities, there
are other groups of children who are notattending compulsory primary education.
Who are these groups of children?
iv)	What steps can be taken to ensure that all
children have access to primary education?
Group 2: Matlamat Pendidikan
Article 29 of CRC: (paraphrased)
Education shall aim at developing the child’s
personality, talents, mental and physical abilities

Turning Around Negative Attitudes Toward Human Rights  11

to the fullest extent. Education shall prepare thechild for an active adult life in a free society andfoster respect for the child’s parents, his or her
own cultural identity, language and values, and forthe cultural background and values of others.

Questions:i) Article 29 of the CRC is in accordance with
the National Philosophy of Education. Doesthe educational system in Malaysia adhere
to the National Philosophy of Education(NPE) and Article 29 of the CRC?
ii) Most of the schools always give importanceto academic performance only. Is this focus
on academic results in compliance with the
NPE and Article 29 of the CRC? Why?
iii) Are social problems/ills and juvenile delinquency due to the school caused by insufficient attention to the NPE and Article 29of the CRC?
iv)	What steps need to be taken to overcome
the over-emphasis given to academic performance?
Group 3: Right to Participation – Involvement in Decision Making ProcessChildren’s rights in the Convention on the
Rights of the Child is divided into four categories, namely, survival, development, protection
and participation. Right to participation implies
that children need to be involved in decision
making on matters that affect them. Article 12of the CRC also states that
The child has the right to express his or her
opinion freely and to have that opinion taken into
account in any matter or procedure affecting thechild. (paraphrased)

The Table below displays the responses given
by students, teachers and school administrators
to the item on election of class monitor in a
research conducted by SUHAKAM.

Table: Responses to the Item, ”Class monitors should
be selected by teachers and not by students”
Form
Total (%) of Gender Location
Respondents M
F Urban Rural F2 F5
N
28.2

Ms* %
%
%
0.2 31.1 26.0 29.9%
% %26.4 31.8 25.3

Teacher 45.9
Adminis26.1
trator

1.0 43.5 47.0 49.6

41.6

0.0 22.4 30.3 25.3

26.7

Student

Answer the following questions based on
the findings shown in the Table:
Questions:i. Only 30% of the secondary school children
agreed that the monitor be selected by theteacher and not by students. However nearly
50% of the teachers were of the opinion
that the monitor be selected by them. Do
you agree that students should be given theauthority to choose their monitor? If yes,
why? If no, why?
ii.	Why are teachers not in favor of giving
opportunities to students to choose theirmonitor?
iii. Adolescents are easily influenced by theirfriends to smoke and to play truant. Is thisbecause students have not been trained tomake decisions?
iv. Under what conditions should students begiven the opportunities to be involved in theprocess of decision making so that they aretrained to think and make good decisions?
Group 4
Article 19 of the CRC: Right to Protection(paraphrased)
The State shall protect the child from all forms ofmaltreatrment by parents or others responsible
for the care of the child and establish appropriatesocial programmes for the prevention of abuses
and the treatment of victims.

12  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Table: Number of Cases of Abuses of Children by
Type of Abuse and GenderType of Abuse

2004

2005

2006

Abandoned baby

M
16

F
10

Total
26

M
22

F
46

Total
68

M
20

F
33

Total
53

Neglect
Physical

296
214

267
231

563
445

306
219

295
212

601
431

355
224

327
271

682
495

SexualEmotional/psychological
Incest

41
26
3

488
37
27

529
63
30

42
34
7

524
43
50

566
77
57

20
13
1

650
37
48

670
50
49

Others

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Total

596

1,060

1,656

630

1,170

1,800

633

1,366

1,999

Source: Department of Social Welfare

The Table above shows the number of casesof abuses of children in 2001-2003.
Questions:i) The data shows that the number of children
being abused has increased every year. Whatis the role and responsibility of the schoolin protecting children from all forms ofabuse?
ii) Hassan has been physically abused by his
mother and his father did not bother. Su Lin
was sexually abused by her father and hermother did not believe when Su Lin told hermother about the abuse. Josef always played
truant and did not complete his homework
because his parents were too busy to care.
The school had knowledge of these threecases. What is the responsibility of the school
towards the three students?
iii) In all three cases, if there is no intervention
from any quarters, it is possible that they
will suffer from physical harm, emotional
disturbance and psychological and/or social
problems. If they do, who is responsible?
iv)	What measures can be taken so that abuses
can be reduced or contained? At this moment, school is not mandated to makereports of abuses to the police. Should it bemade mandatory?

Group 5: Cruel Treatment
Article 37 of the CRC: Torture and Deprivationof Liberty (paraphrased)
No child shall be subjected to torture, cruel treatment or punishment, unlawful arrest or deprivation of liberty. Both capital punishment and life
imprisonment without possibility of release areprohibited for offences committed by persons
below 18 years.

Mrs. Lim is a very committed and dedicatedEnglish teacher who wanted her students to dowell in their examinations. She always made surethat the students gave their full attention during class. One day, one of her students, Helmi
persistently refused to pay attention and kept on
disrupting the class and disturbing their concentration in spite of repeated warnings from Mrs.
Lim. She was so angry that she took a ruler andhit him more than ten times on his palm.
Questions:i) Mrs. Lim’s intention was to make Helmi
pay attention and learn and to stop himfrom depriving others of the opportunities
to learn. Is the action of Mrs. Lim justified?
Why?

Turning Around Negative Attitudes Toward Human Rights  13ii) Is there a more effective way for Mrs. Lim
to discipline Helmi?
iii) Should teachers be given the authority tocane students to discipline them?
iv) It is reported that (a) discipline in school
has become increasingly worse, (b) students
have no respect for teachers because they
do not have much power and status, and(c) students and parents have threatened
teachers and schools with legal action if they
discipline their children by caning. Whatmeasures can be taken so that these threeincidences can be reduced or even contained
and the rights of both teachers and students
can be upheld?

Endnotes

1
United Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization & Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights (2006). Planof Action World Programme for Human Rights Education
First Phase. Paris: UNESCO.
2
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (2006).
Research on Knowledge and Practice of Human Rights in
Secondary Schools. Kuala Lumpur: Author.
3
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (2006).
Research on Knowledge and Practice of Human Rights in
Secondary Schools, Kuala Lumpur: Author, page 68.
4
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (2006).
Research on Knowledge and Practice of Human Rights in
Secondary Schools, Kuala Lumpur: Author, page 83.
5
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is oneof the five UN human rights conventions that Malaysia
has signed and ratified. The other is the Convention
on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women. The other three are minor human rightconventions or treaties.