Schools reminded to verify textbooks obtained from private distributors

Deputy minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon said the ministry never encouraged schools to simply obtain textbooks or workbooks from the private sector without checking the accuracy of the facts contained in the books.

"Our (ministry) textbooks always state the facts (of events) that happened in the country.

"So, it is not true that the ministry removed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (image) from our textbooks because it is a fact that he was our (former) prime minister," he told reporters after a cheque presentation ceremony involving a special allocation to national-type secondary schools (SMJK) here on Saturday.

Chong was asked by reporters to clarify on a claim that Dr Mahathir's image was removed from the Form Three textbook on Civic Education and Citizenship that went viral recently.

While viewing the claim as slander on the ministry and that it was politically motivated, he said no school had used such textbooks as a teaching tool.

Meanwhile, the deputy minister expressed shock over the death of a Year One primary school pupil on Thursday, two days after he was severely beaten up by a senior at a school hostel in Kapit, Sarawak.

"Personally, I am shocked over how brutal primary school pupils can be...and could tie up another student and kill him.

"This has become a murder case and is under police investigation. We (education ministry) shall wait for a detailed report before (taking) any course of action," he said.

According to the police, the victim was believed to have been punched and kicked while his hands were bound and the mouth gagged using a blanket on Tuesday night.

The seven-year-old boy was warded at the Sibu Hospital on the night of the incident.