Character building should be taught from kindergarten stage - Tun Mahathir

A proper course on character building and values should be taught to children as early as the kindergarten stage.

This is the opinion of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who said education policies have failed when it came to character building.

He said just having Moral and Religious classes would not mould people to have good character.

"Parents are now unable to spend quality time with their children. So they cannot impart the right kind of values to their children. Because parents can't do it, the state must do it.

"The state must go in through education, through the schools. From kindergarten onwards, they must be taught what is right, what is wrong," he said at the forum "Nation Building Through Education", at Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia here Monday.

He said so when asked if he believed that our nation could be developed under the current education policies.

Dr Mahathir added that if children were not taught about character building, they will learn from other undesirable sources.