PUTRAJAYA: Teaching hours for the Reproductive and Social Health Education (PEERS) module will be increased under the 2027 School Curriculum as part of efforts to better equip students with the essential knowledge, said Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
The PEERS module is part of the Health Education curriculum, which is taught to pre-schoolers and primary and secondary school students. It provides them with information and skills, particularly psychosocial competencies, allowing them to make informed decisions in their daily lives.
Fadhlina said the initiative is part of the Education Ministry’s ongoing advocacy efforts through the Generasi MADANI programme and various awareness programmes rolled out in schools.
“…it is our approach. InsyaAllah, in 2027, under the new curriculum, we will increase the teaching hours for PEERS.
“There will be a significant responsibility and commitment from the MOE (Ministry of Education) to extend the (PEERS module teaching) time and to ensure our children receive proper education on this issue,” she said after officiating the 56th MOE-MSSM-MILO Sports Awards 2024, here today.
She was responding to a news report published by a portal on April 26, which stated that HIV infections among university and school students are on the rise, with most cases linked to sexual activity.
Malaysian AIDS Council and Malaysian AIDS Foundation honorary secretary Dr Zaiton Yahaya was reported as saying that the majority of those infected are between 20 and 29 years old, accounting for 44 per cent of all cases.
She also cited that four per cent of school students between the ages of 13 and 19 were confirmed to have contracted HIV, with the majority of cases linked to sexual activity.
Concerning the high failure rate in Mathematics in the 2024 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, Fadhlina said the ministry would carry out intervention measures for subjects that recorded a decline in performance.
“For example, last year (SPM 2023), when Bahasa Melayu and History showed a decline, we immediately implemented interventions, and this year’s results show that those efforts were successful, particularly for those two subjects,” she said.
According to the SPM 2024 Examination Results Analysis Report, 84,025 candidates failed the Mathematics subject, which is 22.4 per cent of the 375,115 who took the subject.
