IPOH: Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah has raised concerns over the safety of Malaysian schools, saying the growing incidence of violence among students signals a failure to provide children with both knowledge and moral guidance.
Sultan Nazrin said schools, once considered safe havens for learning and character development, are now witnessing acts of aggression, bullying, sexual assault, and even murder involving children under the age of 17.
“These incidents reflect a failure of education to fulfil its role in instilling human values, resulting in emotional crises and psychological distress.
“Schools, which should be the safest havens for children, are now exposed to environments that threaten their security,” he said this in his speech at the 2025 National Integrity Celebration, themed “Integrity as the Cornerstone of National Prosperity,” at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan here today.
Also present were Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar.
Sultan Nazrin warned that the moral decline among the younger generation points to a deeper crisis within the nation’s social and educational fabric, one that must be addressed urgently and sincerely.
He stressed that education should not merely focus on producing academically competent individuals but also on nurturing human beings who possess integrity, empathy, and moral strength.
“The stories of the Great Wall of China and the fall of Melaka serve as reminders that building the moral character of a people is far more important than constructing physical structures.
“When trust is betrayed and personal interests take precedence over the nation’s welfare, the fortress falls. Therefore, nurturing character among children in schools and students in higher learning institutions must be given utmost priority,” he said.
Describing the current situation as a humanitarian crisis, Sultan Nazrin said the growing culture of violence among students must not be turned into a political blame game. Instead, he called for collective national introspection.
“The crisis we face today should not be unfairly politicised or turned into polemics to assign blame to the current leadership.
“In all honesty and with sincerity, we must find the courage to admit that the cancerous cells, now grown to a critical stage, began as small ones.
“They accumulated over time, perhaps due to our failure to act decisively and effectively at the early stages,” he said.
Sultan Nazrin lamented that society’s fixation on quantitative measures of success has sidelined the very heart of education.
“We may have long neglected the sacred purpose of education, becoming overly fixated on achieving quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) at the cost of sacrificing its qualitative values,” he said.
Sultan Nazrin said Malaysians must now confront difficult questions about the state of the education system.
“Society today is right to ask: has an overemphasis on examination-grade KPIs pushed aside the fundamental philosophy and true purpose of education? Have we become so fixated on rankings and statistics that we neglect to shape character?
“In the pursuit of academic excellence, have we sacrificed spiritual and moral development?” he asked, reminding that education should not only produce smart individuals but also compassionate human beings.
He noted that while the 2026 Budget allocates RM66.2 billion to the Education Ministry and RM18.6 billion to the Higher Education Ministry, such figures would remain meaningless if the education system fails to cultivate values and purpose among the youth.
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