KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail yesterday chaired the National Social Council meeting which among others touched on issues with regards to tahfiz schools in the country.
The council in its statement said Dr Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, wanted the issues such as student safety, the quality of teachers and education syllabus must be dealt urgently.
The third meeting also discussed initiatives carried out by the government, including the drafting of sexual harassment Bill, standard operating procedure on the mechanism to identify or prevent sexual offenders from entering the country as well as the formulation of National Strategic Plan to curb underage marriages.
The council also agreed on three consideration papers, namely mental health among society, strategy to handle mental health problem among school children, and integrated planning to improve the participation of the disabled (OKU) in the public service.
Also agreed during the meeting were four notification papers with regards to job opportunities in the private sector for OKU, long-term planning in tackling social issues among youth, Love the Community programme, and gender mainstreaming study.
The meeting also agreed on ProMIND (focused intervention for healthy minds programme) which targeting students from high-risk families, as well as the need to review the feasibility of existing Service Circulars in terms of achieving the target of 1 per cent job opportunities for OKU.
It also agreed that high-risk youths from B40 group will be given a priority in terms of participation in the intervention programme that will be implemented by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
According to the statement, Dr Wan Azizah emphasized on integrated cooperation all parties including non-governmental organisations and academics in dealing with the social issues in Malaysia. — Bernama
