using comics to get message across
KUALA LUMPUR: A girl who tries to actively take part in classroom activities is repeatedly silenced or told off by her teacher. A boy takes on an after-school job to support his poor family is discovered by a Good Samaritan who helps him to apply for welfare aid.
These are among the stories featured in a comic book on Human Rights Best Practices in Schools (Atham or Amalan Terbaik Hak Asasi Manusia) published by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
The colourful illustrations and simple text aim to give children accurate information and a better understanding of their rights, as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The Education Ministry welcomes initiatives such as this that help to instil learning among school students in a way that’s easy for them to understand,” said Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan, adding that the initiative was part of Suhakam’s collaboration with the ministry.
“The comic serves as a guide for children to understand their rights. The stories featured are examples of what should or should not happen in a school environment. Perhaps Suhakam would consider other approaches such as drama to narrate more stories.”
Kamalanathan was speaking after launching the comic book at SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail (1) in Kuala Lumpur.
“We picked issues or articles in the convention that are relevant to education, and worked with the artists to create the comics,” said Suhakam vice-chairman Datuk Dr Khaw Lake Tee.
“The book is part of Suhakam’s mandate to promote human rights education. Besides the possibility of producing a drama based on the convention, we are also looking at promoting human rights through the arts.”
Dr Khaw said 10,000 copies of the comic book written in Bahasa Malaysia had been printed and would be distributed to schools under the Atham programme during the first phase.
Kamalanathan suggested that additional copies be printed and distributed to more schools during the next phase, and for the comic to be translated to other languages to make the material more accessible.
Suhakam started the Atham programme in 2009 in collaboration with the Education Ministry.
It aims to create a culture that respects and practises human rights in schools, and for these to be used responsibly towards continual social harmony and living.
There are now 138 schools (government and vernacular) plus 93 orang asli schools in Peninsular Malaysia under the Atham programme, though Dr Khaw said there were plans to extend it to Sabah and Sarawak.